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A poppy engraved road sign of Fedoruk Road.
Screen grab from Google Maps
In honour of our soldiers: William Fedoruk
By Samuel Cheng
Published 10:48 PDT, Fri October 13, 2023
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Flight Lieutenant William Fedoruk was born on Feb. 28, 1917 in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. His family resided in the east, in Fort Frances, Ontario before William’s father, Jacob Fedoruk, took on a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1930s. The new job opportunity brought the family to the west coast of Canada, where they stayed in Richmond.
As a young adult, Fedoruk left Richmond to scout for job opportunities back at Fort Frances. According to the record prior to enlistment, Fedoruk had listed multiple occupations including a track maintenance staff with the Canadian Pacific Railway, a millwright’s helper and a steeplejack.
A millwright is highly trained personnel who is responsible for dealing with a wide array of machineries in an industrial and a construction setting, including installation, maintenance, repair, dismantle and reassemble. The tasks of a millwright’s helper are to assist the millwright in prepping the job sites in advance, as well as moving the machineries to the correct locations before the start of work.
A steeplejack on the other hand, is not a job for the weak hearted or someone with acrophobia. A steeplejack is a general term to describe workers that climb tall structures or buildings in order to perform repairs or maintenance work. This can include chimney sweepers, skyscraper window cleaners and more. From the record, Fedoruk excelled at working with extreme heights and took on a job painting a water tower.
On June 1, 1941, Fedoruk was officially enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force at Kenora, Ontario. William had four brothers, John, Steve, Peter and Mike, all of which served in various divisions within the Canadian Armed Forces.
Upon enlistment, Fedoruk worked as a wireless operator and an air gunner. Prior to being posted to Penhold, Alberta, Fedoruk received eight months of training as an air gunner at Sunnyside, Prince Edward Island. He was promoted to corporal after a year of his enlistment, and again to Sargent in shortly after a month. It was not until June 1944 when Fedoruk was finally promoted to a Lieutenant.
Seven months after his most recent promotion, Fedoruk was onboard on a Sutherland aircraft that caught on fire and crashed two miles north of Rosshire, Scotland. Fedoruk’s body was buried in the Stonefall Cemetery, Harrogate, United Kingdom.
The decision to inaugurate a road under Fedoruk’s name was finalized by the City of Richmond on June 21, 1954. Today, the road can be found to the north of Westminster Hwy, between No. 7 and No. 8 Road.
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