Marney Ellis was just two years old when her uncle’s military plane crashed during a bombing raid over Magdeburg, Germany during the Second World War.

But to this day she feels Elvie McCutcheon’s always been a big part of her life, through the stories her father and family shared about the affable and athletic young man who made the ultimate sacrifice on Jan. 16, 1945.

Ellis contacted The Richmond Review this week to share for the first time her fond memories of the uncle she’s long been so proud of.

Though it was 64 years ago, her thoughts always turn to him at this time of year as Remembrance Day approaches.

Ellis has assembled newspaper clippings, framed military memorabilia and photographs, and crafted a family history of McCutcheon’s life, all treasured keepsakes of a life that ended too early.

Standing five foot seven inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair and a dash of Frank Sinatra, McCutcheon was born in Assiniboia, Sask., before his family moved to Vancouver and eventually settled in Richmond where he grew up living on his grandfather’s farm on No. 3 Road.

He was just 17 years old when he began to cut his teeth as a young writer for The Richmond Review, where he became sports editor. But a career in journalism wasn’t to be for the young man who by all accounts was easy going and extroverted.

During the Great Depression, McCutcheon earned $5 a month working local farms, and then landed a job several years later at the Hudson’s Bay Company, where he put his heart into his work, studying after hours in pursuit of a promotion.

He then enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce in 1941, and was eventually promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, impressing his fellow soldiers with his leadership skills and demeanour.

On the night he died, McCutcheon was piloting a military bomber when it was shot down at 9:45 p.m., a crash near the town of Bokensdorf that also claimed two others.

Described as “happy, always breezy and chatty” in an article that ran in The Review in 1945 after he was declared missing in action, McCutcheon was special.

Squadron Leader F.C. Kruger described McCutcheon this way shortly after his death: “Usually a flyer was known only to a limited circle of the boys, but Elvie was just as popular with the ground crew as he was with pilots and other airmen.”

A military chaplain added: “I regarded him as the most influential officer we had. He was a wonderful pilot, had a marvelous personality, was a powerful orator, and was liked and respected by all our personnel.”

Mary Keen, author of We Will Remember Them: The lives behind the Richmond Cenotaph, researched McCutcheon’s life history for the book.

When McCutcheon’s bomb laden plane was struck by another plane’s gunfire and caught fire, as captain of the ship the 30-year-old ordered his crew to bale out, and the plane’s communication officer was heard to have said: “I was the second last to go overboard. Elvie had his parachute on when I left, but just then there was a terrific explosion.”

McCutcheon only had a few more flights to complete before the end of his tour.

Ellis, who now lives in Sooke, said despite being so young when her uncle passed away, she still feels a strong connection with him.

“I just felt that I knew him and I do have I think...memories of how his death affected my grandmother and my mother and father, because they were very close,” she said. “My dad would talk an awful lot about what he and his brother did together.”

Ellis has done a lot to keep the war memories alive in her family, but recognizes the challenges with instilling an appreciation of these sacrifices in future generations of children, as the number of World War II veterans slowly but steadily dwindles.

“I feel very honoured that he sacrificed his life and I always find it very emotional because I think we missed a great deal because he was such a wonderful man. It’s still very, very emotional for me and (I have) a lot of respect for the men and women who served. I never forget that and I’m very thankful for our freedom.”

A year before his death, McCutcheon wrote a letter to The Review’s then publisher, Ethel Tibbits: “Just a short note from England to say your former sports writer is becoming acclimatized. ‘Tis good to be here so close to the real thing and there are planety (sic) of things to make you think...It was really a great thrill to see London and she is still a proud city in spite of more than four years of war. The air here is electric with possibility and full of the air war too.”

He went on to write in the letter postmarked Dec. 21, 1943 and published on Jan. 26, 1944: “Just how much of the impending struggle I’ll see destiny herself alone knows.”

Elvet Baxter McCutcheon was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

McCutcheon Road on Sea Island was originally named in his memory, though that’s now—ironically—a part of the runway at Vancouver International Airport where planes are free to land every day. McCutcheon Place, off Francis Road and Gilbert, is also named in his honour.