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A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project
They made the Ultimate Sacrifice
AIRD, James AB, VR5334, RNCVR, MPK - 30 Oct 1918, HMCS GALIANO - son of Kenneth and Agnes Aird, of Howford-by-Inverarie, Scotland.
On 29 Oct 1918 the GALIANO was sent with supplies to the light house at Triangle Island off Cape Scott at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. A number of her regular crew were unable to make the trip due to illness as the 1918 flu pandemic had reached her base at Esquimalt. She set out towards the Queen Charlotte Islands from Triangle Island at 5 pm on Oct 29th. When she made her only distress call at 3 am the next morning, she was estimated to be within visual range of the light at Cape St. James 95 miles from Triangle Island. She was never heard from again and went down with the loss of all hands.
James Aird is buried in the Veteran's Cemetery, Esquimalt, BC.
Ships served in:
From the The Daily Colonist, Nov. 3, 1918
Before Aird went away on his last trip he was sick, but he would not stay ashore, because he said that as so many of the boys were laid up with "flu" it might be thought that he was shirking. They needed him. And so he went to his ship wearing several plasters, the work of "Mother" Ranns." who had been doctoring him. From Vancouver he sent her a book with a message scribbled on the lid of the box enclosing it, the title being "Old Friends Like You."
James Aird came from Calgary. His mother lives in Scotland. In a recent letter from her she told of a brother being killed in action. The last letter told of another brother being wounded in France.
First World War Casualty Index - RCN
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For Posterity's Sake 
