Danish WW2 Pilots

Andrew Christian Søndergaard

(1916 - 1988)

Andrew Christian (Anders Kristian) Søndergaard is born in Denmark in 1916. He is the son of farmer Lars Kristian Andersen Søndergaard and Bodil Kirstine Søndergaard (née Pedersen). [1]

He is the brother of Svend Søndergaard who is killed in action on 21 December 1943 as Flight Engineer on a 427 Squadron Halifax on mission to Hannover. [2]

He arrives in Quebec on 29 November 1929 with how mother and siblings joining the father who had already settled in Ponoka, Alberta. At the outbreak of war in Europe, he still lives her [3]

He enlists for the Royal Canadian Air Force in Edmonton, Canada, on 19 April 1940. While I have no information suggesting a connection, it is ten days after the German occupation of Denmark.

405 Squadron

He is commissioned in 1943 and attached to the 405 Squadron. He is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 10 January 1944. The award is presented by King George VI on 11 August 1944.

A recommendation for the award, documents that as of 23 November 1943, he had logged 36 sorties and nearly 300 hours of flying between 9 December 1942. At this point in the war, the 405 Squadron is attached to the No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group. [4]

  1. Måbjerg parish record
  2. www.cwgc.org, Chorley, 1996 (1943)
  3. Ancestry.com. Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
  4. Hugh Halliday