Latest News
A poppy engraved road sign of Cooper Road.
Screen grab from Google Maps
In honour of our soldiers: Everett Ellwyn Cooper
By Samuel Cheng
Published 11:37 PDT, Fri July 7, 2023
—
In a series of Richmond’s ‘poppy’ street signs in memory of our fallen soldiers, we share the story of Cooper Road.
Sept. 27, 1924, the Cooper family celebrated the birth of their son, Everett Ellwyn Cooper.
He attended and graduated from Richmond High School prior to enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force. While he was with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Cooper was trained and qualified to become a Flying Officer Air Gunner with the #428 Ghost Squadron.
The primary duties of an air gunner are to operate the mid-upper and rear turret guns to shoot down enemy aircrafts. At the same time, the gunner is responsible to communicate with the pilot on the movements of the enemy aircrafts and take appropriate actions such as evasion, defending and more.
Cooper was then assigned to a station in England. On Dec. 5, 1944, during a mid-air collision accident between a #428 Squadron Lancaster bomber and #426 Squadron Halifax aircraft, Cooper, along with 13 other airmen were tragically killed.
Both planes crashed and exploded, taking away the lives of the pilots and crew members. Afterwards, Cooper’s body was buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery in Woking, United Kingdom.
On June 14, 1954, Richmond City Council advised and adopted the road name to what is known Cooper Road today in honour of Everett Cooper. The poppy engraved road can be found along Francis Road, between St. Albans Road and Garden City Road.
2 Hours of free financial consulting
Jai Xin Planning Ltd.
C$120.00 C$0.00
Use any of our home staging service and get a second month rental for free!
MiiX Interiors
C$500.00 C$0.00
Get 10% off any order
Phantom Screens Lower Mainland
C$200.00 C$180.00
