Ian Campbell Ormston

1921 - 2010  (89 years)

• Name	Ian Campbell Ormston
  Born	27 Jun 1921	Montreal, Ile De Montreal, Quebec   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Military	WW2  [2]
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-52928
  Died	23 Dec 2010  [1, 2]
  Buried	Blair Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I52928	Generations
  Last Modified	30 Sep 2024

  
  

  Family	Marguerite A. Lang,   b. 1927,   d. 17 Jul 2000, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 73 years)
  Last Modified	1 Oct 2024
  Family ID	F13673	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  War hero to businessman Born: June 27, 1921 in Montreal Died: Dec. 23, 2010 pneumonia Squadron Leader Ian Ormston was still miles from the English Channel when he realized, his luck as a flying ace was about to run out. The Spitfire he had named Marguerite, after his fiancé, had sprung a coolant leak which meant imminent engine failure. With only a split second to react, the 22-year-old Ian calculated the optimum speed to allow the heavy aircraft a soft glide toward the relative safety of the Channel, where he at least had a chance of rescue. The alternative was to land the stricken aircraft, but he was over enemy territory which could mean capture. Ian later told a reporter how he had pleaded with his aircraft "C'mon Marguerite, just 10 miles and a little more." All human instincts would have told him to pull back, but Ian was an experienced pilot having fought dozens of air battles and completed hundreds of missions. He knew that it would take some luck to get out of this deadly jam as his Spitfire plummeted two to three thousand feet every minute. Time was critical. Finally, Ian caught sight of the saving body of water, popped open the Spitfire's hood cover and immediately snagged another problem. The parachute's ripcord caught on the radio antennae as the plane went into a rapid nose dive. No more than 400 feet from the water's inky surface Marguerite inexplicably straightened and the cord was released. Ian's chute was freed just as she hit the water, sinking immediately leaving him with nothing but water beneath his feet. "It was apple pie from there," he said. Releasing the dinghy, he climbed aboard. "The squadron was wheeling overhead and I knew they must have radioed for help," he said. Hours later, he was rescued. The brave young pilot would go on to fly again but in 1943, he fractured his spine in a serious crash and was sent home in a body cast. Returning a war hero, Ian had been one of the youngest commanding officers in the air force and on May 28, 1942, he was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI at Buckingham Palace. And to think he started out as a bank ledger keeper after high school. Born one of five children in Montreal, Ian was blessed with a rousing sense of adventure so it could be assumed he was bored with a bank job and at 19 he enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force. A scrapbook from those days is filled with articles about Ian and his comrades, tales of heroics and determination. "He wasn't a person who feared death," said son Charlie Ormston. One article described how, in a firefight, Ian had plowed through 15 Nazi fighters during a sweep of northern France, destroying one before the enemy fled. And always he looked to his trusty Spitfire Marguerite to get him home. For the young Canadian pilot, the war had awoken something in him. During one leave, when he married Marguerite, Ian told a reporter of his eagerness to return to service. "It's real life over there. You can't get away from it. There is nothing like it." In 1943, Ian was presented with a framed honour scroll, etched with the words "emblematic of an officer who has so valiantly distinguished himself in the field of battle against the common enemy." After his spine-breaking crash, however, Ian's life as a pilot was over and it was time to distinguish himself as a husband and eventually father of Charlie, Leslie and Diana. Ian had taken a job with Dominion Oxygen in Montreal and in 1948 he was offered a transfer to Kitchener. Once here, he quickly established two companies; Inter-City Welding Supplies and Inter-City Medigas, highly successful businesses that allowed Ian the lifestyle of a gentleman farmer in Blair where he raised Standard bred racehorses and hunters and jumpers. Charlie talks of how his father learned to ride as a boy in Montreal working summers at a stable and always loved the animals, trotting down to his barn every night to say goodnight. Before he purchased a farm in 1957, Ian boarded a horse at the Hidden Valley Stables where he and industrialist A.R. Kaufman often rode together, either walking or at full gallop, nothing in between. On his deathbed, Ian's final words were "what a beautiful day for a horse race," said Charlie. Marguerite died in 2000 but Ian continued to live on his farm. He had sold his last horse only a few years earlier and discovered a little corgi named Sarah who filled that hole in his heart. He also never forgot his fellow air force buddies and every year hosted a reunion for 30 veterans from across the country. Charlie remembers his dad as a well read man with an interest in politics, religion and history. He was a deeply caring father and a mentor to his children as well as dozens of young people, a warm reality that hit home at his funeral where many spoke of his influence. In 1992, Ian was named an honorary senior fellow by the University of Waterloo's Renison College yet despite his accomplishments, he remained humble. He also refused to talk about the war and even in the many articles in his scrap book, there are precious few quotes. "He just didn't seek attention," said Charlie who adds, his father also didn't want a eulogy at his funeral. "So I read High Flight," Charlie said, noting the famous poem by Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee. The line "The high untresspassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God" were words that had resonated with Ian. "He had experienced that very thing," said Charlie. Waterloo Region Record 7 Mar 2011

  
  

• Sources

  [S34] Cemetery - ON, Waterloo, Cambridge - Blair CC#4501 Internet Link. Ormston / Ian Campbell / 1921 - / Marguerite A. / 1927 - 2000 / In loving memory / [S602] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - The Waterloo Region Record (March 2008- ), War hero to businessman - 7 Mar 2011.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 27 Jun 1921 - Montreal, Ile de Montreal, Quebec Buried - - Blair Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth