Canada honors WWI hero September 23, 2011 The most decorated war
hero in Canadian history finally gets the recognition he
deserves. On Thursday, a ceremony was held in Toronto to
dedicate a monument to the heroic pilot from the First World
War, The Montreal Gazette reports. Lieutenant Colonel William
Barker took down 50 fifty enemy planes during WWI. His most
heroic feat was during a famous dogfight where he faced 15
German planes, was shot three times, and lived to tell the tale.
For his efforts, the Royal Canadian Air Force awarded him the
Victoria Cross, which is the highest honor that can be bestowed
to a soldier. Under Barker's command, no pilots or planes ever
fell at the enemy's hand. "He had 50,000 people at his funeral,
was able to start the island airport, had the first commercial
airline...[was] the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs
and he's buried in a crypt that says Smith, and no one knows who
he is," John Wright, the man who suggested Barker's monument,
told the Winnipeg Free Press. No