Flight Sergeant 
François Roland Pilon
RCAF
1916-1943
Remembered In His Hometown
of Rockland, Ontario
408 Squadron RCAF insignia





Near the centre of the older part of the village of Rockland stands its City Hall.  Next to this fine old two-storey Victorian building is the modern day care centre, Le Carrousel, in front of which is a play ground where the excited screams of toddlers are often heard throughout weekdays.  In fact, those sounds of youthful delight adjacent to the very tangible symbol of community-based democracy and freedom serve as a fitting backdrop for a modest pink granite monument on which are inscribed the names, dates of death and ages at death of the young soldiers and airmen from this small community who left their homes in the 1940's, never to return to their loved-ones, but to die in distant lands fighting for the very freedoms that are enjoyed today all around that stark marker. 

On either side of the monument are the flags that they would both be so proud of : the red maple leaf of Canada, the red ensign of Ontario, the banner of the municipality of Rockland and the Franco-Ontario flag that embodies the survival of their culture in a changing world.

The names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice are listed in the order in which they died.  François Roland Pilon's name is second from the top and his cousin Bernard Gaston Pilon, who was the last from Rockland to lay down his life, is found at the bottom of the stone column.  

Their sacrifice and the gift they gave us all will not be forgotten even though the memory of their time amongst the living fades with the passing years.



Photographs of the Crash Site Memorial near Guise
Photographs of the Liesse Community Cemetery
Photographs of a Memorial in Rockland, Ontario

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