Already old at 32 years when he joined the RCAF in 1941, he went on to earn 3 Distinguished Service Order* medals during his 3 operational tours. Nobody else in the RCAF was able to earn as many. He spent an entire year trying to get out of pilot training and into the action before he was given command of 405 Sqdn, leading them until forced into taking a rest from operations. It was he who led the now famous raid on Peenemude, in which many of Germany's top scientist were killed and their V-weapons projects set back over a year. He led 600 bombers to the target and circled at low altitude for 30 minutes, dropping aiming flares for the others and warning about defenses. He twice led Canada's only pathfinder squadron, a job that drew special attention from the German defenders. With all that behind him he could have recieved a desk job and played it safe till the end of the war as an Air Commodore. Instead he willingly dropped rank to Group Captain so he could fly when "Bomber" Harris personally requested him to lead the elite British 617 Sqdn - the "Dambusters". They used the 20,000 lb "Grand Slam" to demolish sub-pens, bridges, and other hard to destroy targets including the battleship Bismark's sister ship, the Lutzow. His grand finale was a surprise to all, for it took place not from the air, but on the ground. Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the huge bomb wanted to see first-hand what his bomb could do, and Fauquier was instructed to go along. They flew into Germany and landed near Hamburg, which although still in german hands, was supposed to have surrendered earlier that day. Nobody, it seems had told the Germans. Unknowingly, he jeeped into the city for a look at the gigantic U-Boat pens he had blasted apart. While looking around the ruins he was surprised to find approximately 200 German sailors still working. They immediately offered him their formal surrender before inviting out to lunch. To this day he is still the only RCAF commander to accept a formal surrender from the enemy.