Sgt. Lester Blackmore

Clarenville’s original library on Memorial Drive was named after Sgt. Lester John Blackmore, a local airman with the Royal Air Force who was killed over Germany in the Second World War on Aug. 13, 1942. He was just 23. He’s buried at Gosselies Communal Cemetery in Belgium.

 

Sgt. Blackmore was the son of Bertram Ronald and Nellie Florence Blackmore of Clarenville. The Blackmores donated the land for the library, which was named the Lester Blackmore Memorial Library. The library opened in 1947 and remained at that location until 1972.

 

After the library relocated, the building served other purposes including a machine shop run by Walter Blackmore, Lester’s brother. The building still stands today at 77 Memorial Drive on the property of Walter’s daughter, Betty Lou Elford.

 

Lester has not been forgotten. The war memorial opposite the town hall bears his name as does the Newfoundland Airmen’s Memorial in Gander.