In 1916 Roy Edward Dodds went to Canada to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps. Posted to 103 Squadron on 26 May 1918, he downed 7 German aircraft as a D.H.9 pilot. Post-war he sold automobiles in Detroit, Michigan and served as a pilot instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Plagued by ill health, with no family and little income, Dodds died alone in a boarding house room in Detroit, Michigan. He was 72. When no one claimed his body at the local morgue, the Canadian Legion of Detroit stepped forward and had arranged for his burial.
Lieut. (A./Capt.) Roy Edward
(FRANCE)
An officer who possesses high courage combined with great power of leadership. He has taken part in sixty bombing raids far over enemy territory, a large number of which he has led. In addition, he has carried out a number of successful photographic reconnaissances, frequently meeting and overcoming strong hostile aerial resistance. In the course of these nights he has destroyed four enemy machines, and his observer has accounted for three others. A fine achievement, for the machine he flies is designed for heavy bombing and long reconnaissance rather than for aerial combats.
Supplement to the London Gazette, 8 February 1919 (31170/2037)
