P/O Rear Gunner Les Gallant

Joseph Edmond Ulysse Gallant
Lieutenant Pilot Officer-Rear Gunner

GALLANT, P/O Joseph Ulysse Edmond - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.432 Squadron –

Ulysse Gallant, fondly known to his friends and family as ‘Les’, was born in Moncton New Brunswick in 1922. He was the son of Thadée and Eva Gallant (née Theriault).  He grew up in a large family alongside his six siblings: two brothers, Von and Omer, and four sisters, Bernice Sara, Florence and Lina.

Les put aside his school books in 1939 to enroll in the New Brunswick Rangers, an active temporary militia unit of the Canadian Army but was later released due to being under age. In January 1941, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. After basic training, he was assigned duties at RCAF Six Bomber Command, London, England in 1941 and later transferred to Exeter in Devonshire, where he opened the headquarters for District No. 2.  Les later requested a transfer in 1943 to an air combat position and was told that they didn't need pilots but that they did need machine-gunners. 

After completing his gunner training back in Canada, Les was posted to 432 Squadron in East Moor, Yorkshire.  He began his training on twin-engine Wellingtons before transitioning to the more formidable four-engine Halifax bombers.  Beginning in the summer of 1944, he flew 34 missions over some of Germany’s most heavily defended regions, with a particular focus on the industrial heartland of the Ruhr Valley.  It was there that Les faced his most harrowing moments of the war, including two emergency ‘crash’ landings upon returning to the safety of English soil.

Les flew his final mission in February 1945, continuing to serve in the Opp’s planning bunker at the East Moor base until the conflict in Europe ended that May.  On July 5, 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with the following citation: “Completed numerous operations against the enemy in the course of which he has displayed the utmost fortitude, courage and devotion to duty”. Following the end of the war, he returned to Canada and received his honorable discharge in November 1945.

Les occupied the loneliest seat in the sky, where the quiet courage of a gunner was tested in total isolation, scanning the darkness for hours to ensure his crew’s safe return. Many years later, while being interviewed, for the publication Between Bombs and Barb Wire Les reflected: “There were no missions where I wasn’t scared.  I didn’t shake with fear, but I was apprehensive each time”.

Before his time in the air, while posted at the RCAF headquarters in London in 1941, Les met a young woman named Joan Mitchell.  Their courtship was forged under the extraordinary pressures of wartime, tested by long separations, the terrifying report that Les had been killed in action, and the birth of their first child while he was away.

In May 1946, Joan made the bittersweet decision to leave her beloved England, traveling with their infant daughter to Pier 21 in Halifax.  Meanwhile, Les had returned to his hometown of Moncton to establish a life for them.  It was there, at the train station, the young family reunited and Les held his baby girl Pauline for the first time.

Over the next four years, Les dedicated himself to his university studies, a path that took the growing family across the Maritimes.  They first relocated to Sackville, New Brunswick, where Les attended Mount Allison University and they welcomed their second daughter, Rosalind.  From there, they moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, so Les could continue his education at Dalhousie University. In 1950, he achieved a major milestone, graduating with a degree in Commerce – the same year the family celebrated the birth of their first son, Philip.

Les dedicated his professional career to Labor Relations and Human Resources with the Canadian National Railways, a journey that began in Moncton and eventually led him to Montreal. During these years, he and Joan expanded their family, welcoming five additional children: Michael, Denise, Robert, Raymond and Joanie.

Despite his many commitments, Les always found time to give back, serving on the Shediac Hospital Board, leading the Air Cadets sponsoring committee, and counseling youth.  He was a familiar face at the Moncton Curling Club and The Canadian Legion, but perhaps most at home in the woods, where he put his gunner training to use pursuing his lifelong love of moose and deer hunting.

At the age of fifty-seven, Les retired and returned to the Moncton area with Joan to build their dream on a spacious, wooded lot along the Shediac River.  This setting became the canvas for his new passion: the creation of an expansive perennial garden, complete with meticulously landscaped trout ponds. While he enjoyed the slower pace of riverside life, Les remained an active professional and community leader, providing services to Canada Post, administering Shediac Bridge Enterprise Ltd., Co-President of the Hache-Gallant Grand-Digue bicentennial reunion and serving as a founding and honorary member of the Grande-Digue Fish and Game Club.

Following a brief but courageous battle with cancer, Les passed away in January 1994 and was laid to rest in the family plot in Grand-Digue, New Brunswick.  A man of steadfast principles and deep compassion, he instilled these very qualities in each of his children.  His family remembers him with profound gratitude: thank you, Dad, for your bravery, your guidance, your hard work, and your unwavering love.

Your loving family