Remembering Clarington's War Heroes

Although his given name was Robert, he went with his middle name Elmer, shortened to the nickname Al. Al and two of his brothers were part of the 1901 Champion Leskard Football (soccer) Team in the Clarke Football Association, which had 11 members. He worked on a train crew as a brakeman on the Ontario and Quebec Railway, a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated the Toronto to Peterborough line that traverses the northern boundary of Clarington.

At 30, Al volunteered to serve in the First World War on February 25, 1915, and was assigned to a Southwestern Ontario cavalry unit, the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles. The cavalry unit mobilized in London, Ontario on March 15, 1915,  for training and shipped out of Montreal for England on June 9, 1915. On arrival, they trained at the Canadian Cavalry Depot in Canterbury and later landed in France on September 17, 1915.

The nature of warfare had changed considerably, making cavalry units redundant. With the increasing use of machine guns and accurate artillery, fighting battles from horseback became a thing of the past. Cavalry units were dismounted, with most of the men absorbed into infantry units. At some point, Al was reassigned to the Canadian Field Artillery.  Not much is known of the battles in which he was engaged, but he did serve for almost three years in various First World War battle theatres.

The First World War was the first major conflict involving large-scale use of aircraft. The aircraft played a critical role in reconnaissance, especially for ranging and correcting artillery fire, and could also be utilized for bombing raids. A branch of artillery, anti-aircraft batteries, was created to counter this threat. On August 29, 1918, Al was manning an anti-aircraft battery near the French town of Fampoux. A war diary indicates his battery engaged six enemy aircraft on this date but came under constant shelling from enemy artillery. Al was killed in action. He was 33.

Corporal Jarvis Belsey was born April 8, 1927, to Edward and Gladys (nee Smith) Belsey in Dover, England. His father, Edward (Ted), served in the Royal Navy for 27 years. Jarvis left high school before graduation and enlisted with the Royal Marines on his 18th birthday in 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. In 1947, Ted and Gladys immigrated to Newcastle, Ontario. Jarvis served in the Royal Marines in England and could not join the family in the move to Newcastle, but in 1949, he had three months of leave and stayed with his family, helping his father build their home.

During the Second World War, the Royal Marines developed into light infantry battalions and re-organized as commando units, utilized on coastal raids and amphibious invasions. Commando units are the elite troops used for special operations requiring dedicated operational techniques and specializing in unconventional assaults on high-value targets. They perform in enemy territory beyond the fronts of their regular infantry; often, they are paratroopers.

In 1950, the Royal Marines reconstituted 41 (independent) Commando, following a request from the United Nations Command for more amphibious raiding forces. The independent designation meant that their commander had sole responsibility for their deployment. Jarvis was assigned to this unit and then transported to Korea on November 10. Before leaving for Korea, he married Joyce West in August 1950. His unit joined the United Nations advance into North Korea, where they served with the United States Marine Corps. Immediately, they were deployed to execute a series of raids on the North Korean coast near Wonsan to disrupt North Korean transportation facilities.

Jarvis' commando unit then joined other UN infantry units, about 30,000 strong, to push inland from Wonson through the Korean peninsula. The ensuing battles for 17 days found the UN troops surrounded, necessitating a fighting withdrawal to break out of the encirclement and retreat to the coast. A bitter cold streak plunged temperatures into the minus 30s, causing thousands of casualties due to frostbite.

Jarvis' unit was assigned to relieve a US Marine Corps battalion at Koto-ri south of the Chosin Reservoir. On November 29, 1950, his unit came under attack. He was in a transport convoy that the Chinese mortared. He died when struck by shrapnel while riding in a troop truck. A successful evacuation of UN troops and personnel took place at the North Korean coastal city of Hungnam. Jarvis was buried in a military cemetery in the South Korean city of Pusan.

Although a resident of Clarington for only three months, family members still reside locally. Jarvis' name is on the cenotaph in Newcastle.

Robert (Bob) Alexander Bothwell was born in Toronto, Ontario, on October 1, 1917, to David and Elizabeth Bothwell, and was one of eight boys. The family moved to the Maple Grove area when Bob was relatively young. He attended Maple Grove Secondary School and then assisted in the family business of building homes in the area.

Bob enlisted with the 47^th Battery of the Light Anti-Aircraft, Royal Canadian Artillery, on July 28, 1940, at 22. After training, he shipped out on Louis Pasteur's troopship on September 19, 1941. On October 26, 1943, the Regiment shipped out of Liverpool, England, and over the next two years, Bob served as a motorcycle dispatch rider in Italy, France, Holland and Belgium. While stationed in Italy, Bob and his younger brother Roy won a regimental horseshoe championship. After a motorcycle accident and time recovering in the hospital, he returned to civilian life on October 23, 1945.

Upon returning home, he worked for General Motors for a couple of years before rejoining the family business, building homes in the Maple Grove area. In 1947, he began constructing the family home and married Norma Jean, who gave him two sons. He later owned and operated "Maple Grove Sash and Door" for several years on Highway 2.

As times got tough for a self-employed family man, Bob closed his business in the early 1960s. He returned to General Motors before retiring in the mid-1970s.

Throughout his working life, Bob tackled large and small projects in his garage, from building and selling dog houses, wishing wells and boats and refashioning cars into unique and functional trucks. He enjoyed fishing at the cottage with his family and Sunday drives in the Kawarthas. In his later years, he enjoyed watching his garden grow. After suffering a stroke on December 27, 1996, Bob died at 79. 

The tank crews trained on Duplex Drive (DD) tanks, modifications that allowed tanks to swim from landing craft to shore. In addition, the 2nd Armoured Brigade worked closely with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the very infantry units that Donald’s armoured unit would be supporting when the Normandy invasion took place.

On D-Day, the infantry of the Queens Own Rifles, part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry, were supported by the armour of the Fort Garry Horse. They were the only allied units on all the Normandy beaches to achieve their first-day objective, 13 kilometres inland. They pushed further but were forced to back off as they were in danger of overrunning their supply chain. Nevertheless, this armoured regiment remained active in Northwest Europe, fighting throughout the campaign until Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) eleven months later, supporting any infantry needing armoured support. They won battle honours on 13 different occasions.

Donald was demobilized on April 30, 1946, and returned home. Through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Donald received vocational training as a carpenter. He later became a master carpenter and worked as a private contractor building homes in Durham Region over the next forty years. Donald met his wife, Doris May Tullock, and they married on June 28, 1947, raising three children. He built his final dream home north of Port Hope, where he and his wife lived on a large, wooded farm property, which would become the favourite place for all his grandchildren.

His passions included travel and long car rides, visiting family and friends in Florida and New York State, as well as numerous adventures across the entire country up to the final years of his life. He died peacefully with family by his side on March 29, 2008. He was 83.

When Fred turned 18 in 1941, he enlisted to serve in the Second World War in the Canadian Army, assigned to the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Fred transported equipment to where it was required and laid wireline communications cable from rear command centres to active fighting units on the fronts. This technology became invaluable during the Second World War, providing wireless communications to mobile army units and the constantly shifting fronts. When established overseas, the Canadian Signals were based at various locations in southeast England. Preparing for the Normandy invasion, they trained with Canadian infantry, artillery and armoured units throughout the UK. Fred went ashore in France after D-day, supporting the Canadian fighting units through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Fred met Mary Adams at a cinema in Aberdeen, Scotland, and married her before being demobilized in November 1945. He went home to Weston, and Mary followed him eight months later in July 1946.

They moved to Vancouver Island with one child, later returning to Ontario with two children.  Fred worked construction jobs in Kingston, Oshawa and Toronto as a heavy equipment operator, but the family moved to Bowmanville in December 1953 with four children. In 1972, he began work as a road superintendent for the Town of Bowmanville until he retired in 1988. Fred was a member of the local Royal Canadian Legion Branch, served as its president and was a frequent member of the colour party. In September 2014, a representative from the Armée de Terre (French Army) and the ambassador from their Ottawa embassy presented Fred with a service medal for the role he played in helping liberate France. He was amazed when he was kissed on both cheeks, a traditional Gallic honour. Fred died on April 25, 2015, at 93.

Mabel constantly gave herself to others, and in 1915, after the war broke out overseas, she decided to enlist and become a Nursing Sister to help the war effort. She went to England and France as part of the first Canadian Field Ambulance. During the war, Mabel wrote many letters describing what hospitals were like behind the lines. In one of her letters, she describes Christmas at the hospital where she worked, "Christmas time we decorated our ward to represent a Canadian snowstorm. I was on night duty, so I played the part of Santa Claus. We had bunches of cotton strung on thread and festooned from beams and rafters."

Mabel distinguished herself and her work, and was honoured with the Mons Star service and victory medals and was presented with the Royal Red Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace. The Royal Red Cross was a prestigious honour and was a medal awarded to nurses for their exceptional services, devotion, and professionalism in British military nursing. After the war, she married Charles G. M. Evans. They settled down and made a life for themselves in Manitoba, later in Victoria, British Columbia, where she continued to help others. Her nursing knowledge and experience made her an asset as there was no doctor in the area where she lived.

Mabel Bruce Evans died on June 2, 1951. She was 72. Newspapers reported that she had been having health problems for quite some time, "having undermined her strength by giving her skill, time and energies so freely to others all her life." Mabel's medals and awards were given to the Bowmanville Hospital. Hospital volunteers paid to have them framed and displayed in the hospital she helped to start in 1913. Her legacy will forever continue, and she is remembered for the quiet assurance she met all problems inspired confidence and trust in all those under her care. Her untiring energy and devotion to duty will be long remembered by those privileged to associate with her.

The original hospital building still stands, now known as the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation, and the street that it fronts upon has been named in her honour.

Biography coming soon.

Bruce Burley was born on January 4, 1946, in Newtonville to Ron, a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) veteran from the Second World War, and Mary Jane (nee Denault). Ron and his brothers operated a family garage business in Newtonville, eventually founding a transit business, the Burley Bus Lines.

The family moved to Port Hope in 1949 as their bus service expanded, but Ron left in 1956 to work for the Province in the Department of Highways. At 13, Bruce joined the Air Cadets, where he served four years, initially in Cobourg and then in Port Hope.

In June of 1963, at 17, Bruce joined the RCAF as a Bandsman. He transferred to the Tri-Service School of Music in Esquimalt, B.C. In January 1965, he was transferred to Camp Borden for Military Police training to support CAF missions by investigating incidents involving military or criminal offences, developing crime prevention measures to protect military communities against criminal acts and securing nuclear weapons.

In June 1965, Bruce was sent overseas on a NATO deployment to an RCAF base in Germany. The cold war between the West and the Soviet Republic led to the development of NATO Dispersed Operating Bases throughout Western Europe to counter the threat. Bruce was stationed at the Zweibrücken Air Base, where nuclear weapons were stored. He performed his military police duties at this location for three years before returning to Camp Borden in 1968.

Bruce left the RCAF in 1970 and joined the Ontario Provincial Police. He served five years in a uniform capacity at the Bracebridge detachment and spent the next 22 years in various investigative functions until his retirement in 1997. Post-retirement, he worked at CSIS for ten years, retiring in 2008. Bruce has two sons and six granddaughters. He currently resides in Port Hope and is a member of the Bowmanville Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

On June 1, 1918, Ronald Burley (Ron) was born to Cecil and Agnes Burley. He was raised in the hamlet of Port Granby in Clarke Township. Ron and his five siblings went to an elementary school in Newtonville and a secondary school in Port Hope. Ron was mechanically inclined, no doubt due to the garage exposure.

At 21, Ron and two of his brothers volunteered for service in the Second World War. Ron opted for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a flight engineer (FE). The position of FE evolved with more complex systems, so, with wartime bombers and long-distance patrol aircraft, monitoring the engines and other critical systems freed the pilot to fly the aircraft. The FE sat in the cockpit to the pilot’s right.

Ron was assigned to bases on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, flying in long-range patrol aircraft. In Nova Scotia, at RCAF Station Dartmouth (present-day CFB Shearwater), his flights provided convoy escorts and conducted anti-submarine patrols. On Vancouver Island, RCAF Coal Harbour, he was stationed at a sea base for floatplanes and flying boats. Reconnaissance flights operated daily at this location to survey potential threats to the BC coast.

After being demobilized in 1945, Ron returned to civilian life in Newtonville, where he married Margaret Denault and raised two boys. Ron founded the Burley Bus Lines with his brothers. In 1949, he moved the family to Port Hope, and in 1956, he accepted a position with the Department of Highways in Ontario. At the Department of Highways, Ron became a diesel mechanic instructor at the Provincial Institute of Trade.

He left the Department of Highways in 1967, moved to Newcastle, and worked as a diesel mechanic for Howard L. Woods Transport in Bowmanville before retiring in 1981. Ron died in 2003 at 85.

On February 17, 1916, at 20, he enlisted for overseas service in the First World War with the 136^th Battalion (Durham). Initial infantry training took place in Port Hope and Bowmanville. Lionel’s unit departed Halifax on September 27, 1916, sailing overseas to Liverpool on October 5, 1916. On December 5, 1916, Lionel was reassigned to the 87^th Battalion, the Canadian Grenadier Guards. 

Lionel was moved forward to the trenches on February 21, 1917. At that time, his unit was located outside Arras. Less than two weeks later, he was seriously wounded after suffering three shrapnel wounds to his left arm and hand. He was evacuated to England and hospitalized for treatment and recovery but lost the index finger on his left hand. During this time, he was placed on the 23^rd Canadian Reserves. In October 1917, he became an instructor at various ranges and sniping courses. He returned to the 87^th on November 26, 1917, and moved to the front lines in late December, where he faced heavy fighting at the Battle of Passchendaele. On February 23, 1918, Lionel was notified that his father had died. He was granted leave on compassionate grounds and left France on March 5. Lionel was sent home to run the family business on July 3, 1918, and received his discharge from service on September 20, 1918.

Lionel married Ethel Lillicrapp on October 15, 1919, and had four children. After Ethel died in 1961, Lionel married Elva Beckett in 1965 and sold the store to Clifford, his eldest son. Elva died in 1975, but Lionel carried on being very involved in Tyrone Seniors, Legion Branch 178 and especially in L.O.L. 764. He could always be found rocking on the store porch, waving, and greeting all who passed.

Many from Tyrone and the surrounding area say that some families would not have survived the Depression if not for Lionel Byam's compassion. Lionel had served the Tyrone community through his general store for 50 years. The Tyrone Post Office was in the back of the store, where he was Postmaster for 44 years. Lionel died on November 24, 1982, at 87.

Darryl’s parents divorced, but both remarried, giving Darryl two siblings, one in each family. The common bond for each family was Darryl. He was the cement that kept them together, and he inspired his brother and sister, who praised him. Darryl cherished his family. 

When he attended Bowmanville High School, Darryl was a young man of high morals, someone who chose what was suitable for him, regardless of the opinions of others. At times, this made him unreceptive to rules and authority. After high school, Darryl wanted to become a police officer and attended his first year of college before determining that it was not for him. In 2003, Darryl worked at the Goodyear plant in Bowmanville but found it mundane and left after six months.

Since Darryl liked to challenge authority figures, his parents were surprised when he chose to join the Forces in September 2004. However, he embraced this new life with enthusiasm. Darryl was pleased with his decision and new responsibilities. He matured dramatically and exercised his good qualities in the military, which gave him purpose.

Darryl joined the Royal Canadian Dragoons, the senior armoured regiment in the Canadian Army. Nobody was prouder to be a Dragoon than Darryl. He thrived on the camaraderie, a soldierly combination of simple affection and affectionate harassment. The Dragoons were reconnaissance and tank crews to the Canadian Task Forces that served in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014.

On June 11, 2007, Darryl travelled with a convoy carrying supplies to a forward operating base in Khakriz when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle and killed him. He was 25. Darryl’s high school held a special memorial ceremony in his honour and a street in Bowmanville commemorates his name. The Highway of Heroes Durham LAV Monument in Bowmanville also notes his sacrifice. It was dedicated in 2017.

After high school, Alec worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Bowmanville. He enlisted for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at 24 on September 9, 1940. Alec graduated training as a Flight Sergeant Air Gunner and was later awarded his second wing commissioned as a Pilot Officer. He was posted at bases in Canada and Newfoundland (which was not part of Canada at that time) before being shipped overseas in January 1944.

Alec was assigned to the 408 “Goose” Squadron, Bomber Command and based at Linton-on-Ouse in Yorkshire in England. The 408 Squadron was created in June 1941, the second of 25 Canadian bomber squadrons overseas. Alec flew on his first bombing mission on March 7, 1944, as a co-pilot. The raids were conducted at night to hide from enemy fighter aircraft. On his third mission, Alec was the pilot of a Lancaster bomber, departing base on the evening of March 15, 1944, for Stuttgart, Germany. The official account reads:

“The aircraft was reported missing on 16 March while serving overseas with 408 Squadron, and no further information having become available, he is presumed for official purposes to have died on that date.” 

No wreckage was found, and it was assumed his plane went down over the English Channel upon return from the sortie (mission). Other pilots on the raid reported constant harassment from enemy fighter aircraft on their return to base. They lost all seven crew members. Alec was 28.

Alec’s younger brothers also served in the RCAF and died in action. Bill died on May 6, 1942, and John died on August 18, 1944. Their mother was chosen as the Silver Cross Mother in 1966, laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day, on behalf of all mothers who lost children in military service of their nation.

Both Sandy’s older brothers, Alec and Bill, enlisted for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1940, with Sandy following on June 6, 1942, at 21, one month after Bill died in a maritime patrol bomber crash. His mother later told a newspaper reporter that Sandy went to war to avenge the death of his brother.

Sandy followed in the footsteps of his two brothers and took flight training to become a fighter pilot.  Upon completion of training, he was assigned to the 440 “Beaver” Squadron.  Initially, this squadron took part in defence operations in Western Canada, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands Campaign from November 1941 onward.  It was relocated to an RAF base in Ayr, England, in February of 1944.  It is not known when Sandy was posted to this unit, before or after relocation. On March 16, 1944, Sandy learned that his eldest brother Alec was reported missing while piloting a bomber on a raid over Stuttgart, Germany and presumed to be killed in action.

The 440 Squadron was supplied with British-made Typhoon Fighter/Bombers, a very powerful dual-role aircraft that was the successor to the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters.  It excelled at low altitude interception and became the most successful ground-attack aircraft. After the D-Day invasion, the 440 Squadron supported and followed the allied armies through France, Netherlands and then into Germany. Depending on the front location, their bases would be close to a field, with the men living in tents.  On August 18, 1944, a flight of three Typhoons took off from their base near Orbec, France on a mission. Near the French town of Vimoutiers they attacked a convoy of ground transports. Two motorized vehicles were destroyed on a strafing run. Sandy’s fighter encountered flak as he pulled out of the dive. His aircraft went into a steep dive and crashed into an orchard. He managed to bail out of the stricken craft, but there was insufficient altitude for his parachute to open.

His mother, a recent widow, lost all three sons serving in the RCAF during the Second World War. She was selected as the Silver Cross Mother in 1966, laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day, on behalf of all mothers who lost children in the military service of their nation.

After completing school, Bill worked at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Bowmanville but enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on October 23, 1940, at 23. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Alec, who had enlisted one month earlier. His younger brother, Sandy, would enlist in the RCAF a year-and-a-half later.

He took flight training, a good deal of it based at the airstrip in North Oshawa. Occasionally he brought fellow trainees home for a home-cooked meal that his mother loved to prepare, and then they would gather around the piano and sing until returning to base that evening. Sometimes, when they would be flying over Bowmanville, Jo’s boys, as they were known, would tip their wings and buzz the houses. The neighbours would have fits.

On April 29, 1942, Bill joined the 11 Bombing/Reconnaissance (BR) Squadron based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. From this base, they would fly Hudson Bombers, a refitted version of the Lockheed Electra airline, overseas to conduct anti-U-boat patrol and convoy escort. On nine different occasions, aircraft from this squadron engaged surfaced U-boats. On May 6, 1942, at 25, Bill was the co-pilot/navigator of a crew selected to ferry an aircraft from Torbay Newfoundland to Dartmouth for a maintenance inspection. Unfortunately, the plane crashed upon takeoff. The official report reads:

“Killed in the crash of a Lockheed Hudson Bomber #761 during takeoff from Torbay, Newfoundland, May 6, 1942, along with seven comrades, destination Dartmouth NS.”

The plane reached about 100 feet before a suspected engine failure, and it plummeted to the ground.

Bill’s two brothers, Alec and Sandy, would also be killed in action in March and June of 1944. Their mother, Annie Josephine Colville, was selected as the Silver Cross Mother in 1966, laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day, on behalf of all mothers who lost children in the military service of their nation.

Bill trained at Base Borden and was selected to join the 48th Highlanders, a legendary unit that has honourably served our country since 1891. He was transferred overseas to a base in Aldershot, England, in 1943 and participated in the Sicily invasion and the campaign on the Italian mainland. During this time, his unit received the following battle honours:

• Sicily, 1943:
  • Landing at Pachino, Valguarnera, Assoro, Agira, Adrano, Regalbuto
• Italy, 1943:
  • Landing a Reggio, Campobassa, Torella, San Leonardo, the Gully, Ortona, San Nicola-San Tommaso
• Italy, 1944:
  • 2nd Battle of Cassino, Gustav Line, Gothic Line, Liri Valley, Hitler Line, Lamone Crossing

Bill’s war ended in December 1944 during the battle for the Lamone River crossing, where artillery shrapnel pierced one side of his body from armpit to hip. He begged for water as he lay on a stretcher, typically not given to those facing immediate surgery. He distinctly recalled one of them saying, “Give him some. He’s not going to make it.”

After more than a year of mending in a Scottish facility, Bill returned home in June 1945. He worked at the local Goodyear plant in Bowmanville until he retired in 1983. Bill learned to play the bagpipes and, in 1951, was one of the founding members of the Bowmanville Legion pipe band. In 1954, he married Carol Martyn and had one son.

In 1953, with assistance from the Veterans Land Act, Bill purchased two acres situated at Baseline Road and Green Road in Bowmanville and built his home. The house sits high atop a hill with a view of Lake Ontario to the south. Many years later, he watched the processions of the Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Bill worked with MP Erin O’Toole and others to create the Highway of Heroes Durham LAV Monument at Clarington Fields. Bill died on June 24, 2019. He was 97.

In 1946 at 18, Bob transferred to the Royal Air Force (RAF). While in training at the RAF base in Hereford, he met Ann Weaver, the love of his life. In 1947, he was sent to the RAF base in Lubeck, Germany as a member of the British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO) to defend the airbase and radar installations. He was demobilized in 1949 and became a police constable with the Herefordshire Constabulary for six years. He married Ann in 1951 and raised two sons.

In 1956, Bob applied to and was accepted by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The family emigrated to his new post at Camp Borden, where he served with the military police. A depot at this base had been established in 1940 to supply munitions to the various RCAF flight training locations created in Ontario and Quebec under the British Commonwealth Training Plan. At this time, the base was utilized as an explosives depot, with the military police providing the security for this function involving the defusing of old and unused munitions from the war. 

Bob left the RCAF in 1960, and the family settled in Bowmanville. He worked at the Bowmanville Training School, and his wife worked at the Memorial Hospital in town. His boys played hockey locally, and Bob was also involved with the teams, eventually named the Bowmanville Toros. He was also one of the founders of the local junior team, the Eagles.

In 1966, and for the next 24 years, Bob worked at the Consumers Gas Company. Initially, he worked in their credit section but eventually he moved to pipeline inspection, which he preferred. Bob died in his home on February 10, 2021. He was 93.

Ivan enlisted for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for the Second World War in 1940, at 18. He went to a training facility near St. Thomas, presumably the Ontario Police College in Aylmer. He trained to be an aircraft mechanic, including practical studies of aircraft structures, operating systems, instruments, engines, and propellers.

After being shipped to England and assigned to the 409 Squadron, Ivan flew Night-Fighters, purpose-built aircraft with powerful twin-engines equipped with radar to intercept and destroy enemy bombers during the night. He worked at a few bases on the English east coast and France after the Normandy invasion. When the war ended, his squadron was on German soil in the Rhine River basin.

Ivan married Joan Miller in Newcastle, England, and was demobilized in 1945. He returned to Winnipeg and found employment as a lineman with Winnipeg Electric. In 1953, he transferred to Ontario Hydro, working in Ottawa and Brockville until he retired in 1976. Ivan and his wife raised two daughters, later relocating to Whitby and then North Bay to be near his daughters. Ivan was intelligent, charming and always alert. He possessed an eclectic nature and quickly adapted to computers. 

In 2014, Bowmanville residents, Lindsey and Travis Boone and their two children met Ivan at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Whitby. Their daughter bestowed a homemade poppy on Ivan and had a photo taken with him at this time. They established a close friendship that remained until the day he died in September 2019. He was 97. The Boone family participates annually with remembrance activities in Clarington, assisting with the poppy campaign and placing crosses on the graves of Clarington veterans.

He joined work with HMCS Annapolis, one of 50 aged American destroyers provided to the allied effort by the United States in 1940. After training, Emmett was re-assigned to the HMCS Thetford Mines, a new Canadian-built frigate. Before going overseas, he married Muriel Henry on October 10, 1944, in Peterborough.

On March 7, 1945, his warship helped sink the German submarine U-1302 in St. George’s Channel. On May 11, 1945, in Northern Ireland waters, the HMCS Thetford Mines accepted the surrender of six German U-boats. Later that month, the warship was decommissioned and returned to Sydney, Nova Scotia. After escorting a convoy across the Atlantic, this warship patrolled British waters until Victory in Europe Day in May 1945.

Emmett was honourably discharged on January 8, 1946, and returned to the family farm. Although he wanted to be a teacher, he joined the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). He first served at the Peterborough detachment and was eventually transferred to the Bowmanville detachment, where he, Muriel and their three children settled.

Emmett coached kids’ hockey and baseball and participated in other community volunteer work. He died on March 17, 1967, while still in service of the OPP. He was 51 years old.

Carl Evans Devitt was born on October 7, 1919, to Andrew and Mabel Devitt, farmers near Blackstock on Concession Road 3 in Cartwright Township, presently known as Devitt’s Road. After Carl’s father died, Carl moved with his mother and sister to Bowmanville when he was eleven. His mother opened a boarding house on Scugog Street near the present-day CPR tracks. Carl completed his education at Bowmanville High School and worked at the Goodyear plant when he was 17.

On January 8, 1942, at 22, Carl enlisted for service in the Second World War. He joined the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Most signalers supported the army by establishing and maintaining communications between active fronts and the command areas behind the lines with landline and radio connections. However, wireless communications could also be listened to by anyone within the transmission range, which led to Carl’s role of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT).

Carl learned the basics of Radio Frequency (RF) interception, directional finding to source an RF transmission, encryption techniques, decryption, decoding and methods to secure their communications. After training in B.C., he joined the #22 Special Wireless Station in Grand Prairie, Alberta. The unit used receiving towers on nearby mountaintops to intercept long-range Japanese communications in the Aleutian Islands. Carl remained in Alberta and married a local girl, Jean, before being summoned back to Victoria, BC.

Carl became part of the first Canadian Special Wireless Group and found himself en route to Australia, leaving his pregnant wife in Grand Prairie. In Australia, an interception camp was set up in the northern city of Darwin. After the city was bombed by the Japanese, the inhabitants moved south out of the range of enemy aircraft, while he remained at this location for the duration of the conflict.

When he returned to Canada, he and Jean settled in Bowmanville in a house on Jane Street. He returned to the Goodyear plant and had two more children. Carl enjoyed gardening and was known for his prized gladiolas. He was also involved in local hockey and was one of the founders of the Bowmanville Eagles junior hockey team.

After retiring early from Goodyear, he moved to Queenston in the Niagara area, where he owned and operated a gasoline bar and variety store. After selling the store, the family moved to Fonthill, Ontario, near his oldest son. After a few years, they moved to Black Creek in Stevensville but eventually returned to Bowmanville. He died on November 16, 2003, at 84. 

On September 9, 1939, eight days after Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Canadian Parliament declared war. Jack, at the age of 25, had enlisted three days before. He was assigned to the Ontario Regiment headquartered in Oshawa, an armoured unit, and his first post was at Camp Borden for training. For some time, he was stationed at Espanola, Ontario, guarding German prisoners of war. On June 29, 1940, he married his childhood sweetheart, Elma Marion Vance, and their firstborn arrived in April 1941.

In June of 1941, Jack’s unit was shipped overseas from Halifax, arriving in Greenock, Scotland, on July 1. The unit trained at Headley Downs in England and was then assigned defensive roles on the English coast at Shermanbury and Brighton. The unit was then selected to participate in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. On July 13, 1943, they disembarked on the southeast coast of the island near the town of Syracusa as part of the First Canadian Tank Brigade, then moved to a harbour area near Cassibile. Now part of the British 8^th Army Reserve, they patrolled the coast and then moved inland near Scordia to support infantry units to the east and west. They fought their way north along the coast, clearing the way for British and American troops to capture Messina, liberating Sicily in only seven weeks.

On September 3, 1943, the unit was repatriated to the First Canadian Corps, 11^th Army Tank Brigade. They crossed the Straits of Messina, capturing the town of Reggio in Italy. For the following 18 months, including two winter seasons, Jack’s unit was part of the allied push northward on the Italian peninsula. The fighting was fierce, and the unit engaged in major battles in Monte Cassino, Ortona and the Liri Valley. On May 19, 1944, at Monte Cassino, Jack’s tank was hit by enemy fire, and he suffered both physical and mental trauma. Nevertheless, he returned to active duty. His unit ended participation in Italy in February of 1945 when they were transferred to the fronts in Northwest Europe. In total, the Ontario Regiment garnered sixteen battle honours in Sicily and Italy. Jack would have been involved in most, if not all, of these actions. In March 1945, they joined the drive into the Netherlands and Germany, where they remained until the end of the war. Jack’s unit fought with distinction in the Dutch campaign, picking up another battle honour at Arnhem, Holland.

Upon demobilization, Jack returned home to his family. They settled in Scott Township, where they purchased a farm. By 1954, Jack had three more children, and the family relocated to Oshawa in 1958, where he found employment with the Ontario County Board of Education. He retired in 1972 due to his poor health. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion and St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Oshawa. Jack died on December 25, 1978. He is survived by his wife Elma of 36 years, who presently lives at Bowmanville Creek Senior’s Residence and turned 100 in 2022.

In 1941, at 25, Stewart enlisted with the Canadian Army to serve in the Second World War. His background in telecommunications may have played a role in his assignment to the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. The job of the Signal Corps was to create and manage communications and information systems for the combined arms forces, naval and air force, and the army. Communications technology had significantly advanced since the First World War, particularly radio frequency (RF) transmissions, which became necessary with the combat mobility brought about by armoured units. However, laying landlines was always preferred because messages could not be intercepted, unlike radio frequencies. Technicians had to be very adept at both. Stewart trained in England with a joint assault signal company specializing in linking land, sea and air operational elements. Once ashore in enemy territory, they supported the army’s advances with communications links between the fronts and command posts in the rear. He saw action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and again until the end of the Second World War in Northwestern Europe.

In 1920, Stewart and three of his sisters were sent to Canada. William and Anne Fuller took in Stewart and one of his sisters. Stewart graduated at the height of the depression and took jobs where he could find them. He married Ellen Temple on April 30, 1938, and raised two children. In 1940, Stewart found employment with Northern Electric, a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company that manufactured and installed automated switching equipment.

After demobilization, Stewart returned to Scarborough and his employment at Northern Electric. With his experience in RF, he took up amateur radio as a hobby. He retired in 1976 and moved first to Hastings, and then Campbellford. He died in 2006. He was 89.  Stewart’s son, a granddaughter and three great grandchildren are long-time residents of Bowmanville.

Charles George Grady, known as George, was born on March 1, 1929, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was one of seven children born to John Earle, a supervisor at Stelco Steel, and Mary Lulu Grady, a nurse. Mary’s maiden name was Armstrong, and her parents were the original owners of Armstrong’s grocery store in Orono. Although George’s parents had settled in Hamilton to raise their family, their connection to Orono was strong. George and his siblings spent many holidays and summers at their grandparent’s home in Orono with their cousins. All four Grady brothers worked in their grandparent’s grocery store. After his father’s death, George’s mother returned to Orono to live with her sister. The home in Orono became a familiar gathering spot for her grown children and numerous grandchildren to spend time together.

Three of George’s brothers enlisted and served with the Canadian Forces in the Second World War, and his oldest brother, John, was killed in action. At the time, George was too young to enlist. He completed high school and, in about 1950, enrolled at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto, completing a course in electrical engineering. On October 3, 1953, George married his childhood sweetheart, Valerie Ann Lounsbury, and the couple moved to the United States.

George enlisted with the United States Army in late 1953. He was assigned to Fort Dix near Trenton, New Jersey. This base was a vast military complex established as a readiness centre and a jumping-off point for troops crossing the Atlantic to war or staffing U.S. bases in Europe. It was also a basic training centre for infantry personnel. In total, George spent two years serving at Fort Dix, the home base for the 9^th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, where he was involved in training recruits and reservists. Infantry tactics had dramatically changed after the Second World War, and the “foot soldier” now had to be taught the new battlefield realities, mechanization, infantry fighting vehicles, amphibious seaborne assaults, airborne assaults, communications, etc.

In 1955, George attended the University of Missouri, Science and Technology. He graduated as a metallurgical engineer, which is an engineer who specializes in the development, processing, and testing of metals, often working in the industrial sector for manufacturing firms, foundries, mining companies and scientific organizations. George worked in several foundries, first at Dunkirk, New York, then in 1961, he moved to a foundry in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and in 1966 to another in Warren, Pennsylvania. Finally, in 1968, he moved to Ligonier, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a consultant for a firm based in New York City until he retired in 1985.

George and Valerie raised two daughters and a son. In retirement, they settled in Cranberry, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. He was an avid golfer, and the family spent time on a property they owned in Florida. George died in 2004 at 76.

John Bruce Grady was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on April 28, 1918. He was the second oldest of seven children to John Earle and Mary Lulu Grady. At 13, following the death of his maternal grandfather, John left home and moved to Orono to live with his grandmother. He helped run the Armstrong family general store. He soon became well-known around Orono as he delivered groceries and became a popular figure over the years.

When the war came in 1939, John enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was eventually posted in England. He worked as a navigator based out of Tempsford in Bedfordshire. He was a member of one of two “Moonlight Squadrons,” a top-secret ops mission of the British Air Force. They were also known as “Churchill’s Secret Army.” Flying black-painted Halifax bombers, these squadrons helped collect vital and covert information that led to some of the war’s most significant victories and aided a network of resistance movements across Europe. Their missions involved dropping off secret agents, weapons and much-needed supplies, including ammunition, explosives, clothes and typewriter ribbons.

The squadron flew mainly on moonlit nights, guided only by local landmarks while flying low to the ground to evade radar detection. Landings were often conducted into small fields with the assistance of the resistance using only the smallest of lights. The squadron stayed on the ground for the briefest time needed to drop off supplies. They occasionally picked up downed allied airmen, who had been assisted by resistance organizations to escape capture and delivered them back to England.

In the overnight hours of August 8, 1944, John and his crew took off for what would be their final mission. Southeast of Paris, their bomber was detected and hit by enemy fire. Their cargo that night was explosives for a resistance organization near the village of Cugny. Upon crashing, the aircraft exploded, killing all crew members. Although the Normandy invasion had already taken place in territory occupied by German troops, the writing was on the wall with allied advances. The villagers of Cugny, no longer fearful of the Gestapo, pulled the crew’s remains from the wreckage. Though Nazi occupiers forbade it, the villagers are believed to have conducted a small funeral and buried the remains of the seven in the village cemetery. John was 26 when he died.

The French Committee of National Liberation awarded the Resistance Medal to recognize remarkable acts of faith and courage that contributed to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and its accomplices. The medals ceased to be awarded after 1947; however, in August 2019, to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of their deaths, the Resistance Medal was awarded posthumously to all seven crew members, including John.

William Armstrong Grady

William (Bill) Grady was born on April 11, 1920, in Hamilton, Ontario, to John Earle, a supervisor at Stelco Steel, and Mary Lulu Grady, a nurse. Mary’s maiden name was Armstrong, and her parents were the original owners of Armstrong’s grocery store in Orono. John Earle, originally from Alberta, had met Mary while surveying for the rail line that would eventually come through Orono. The two married and settled in Hamilton, where they raised seven children. Bill was the third child of four boys and three girls. He was raised and went to school in Hamilton, but he and his siblings spent many holidays and summers at their grandparent’s home in Orono with their cousins. After Bill’s grandfather died, his older brother John moved to Orono at 13 to help his grandmother run the grocery store.

In March 1942, Bill enlisted in the Second World War. His first choice was the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), but instead, he joined Canadian Army and was assigned to the Royal Canadian Engineers. The role of that branch was to conduct combat operations using demolitions and land mines, designing, constructing and maintaining defensive works and fortifications, urban operations (hostile room entry), breaching obstacles, establishing and maintaining lines of communication, and bridging. In total, there are approximately sixteen specialties performed by engineering personnel. They were divided into field companies supporting various front-line infantry and armoured brigades. Part of Bill’s responsibilities was inspecting damaged or captured enemy artillery and examining for weaknesses in design and other vulnerabilities.

Bill trained in Kingston and said it took two weeks to travel to England. He likely went ashore in France on D-Day minus two, with a field company seeing action as part of the Second Canadian Division fighting in Northwest Europe until the end of the conflict in May 1945. He and his brother John would take their leaves together and travel to Scotland to go salmon fishing. Bill was severely injured in France when a bomb hit a jeep, leaving him deaf and with two fractured legs. He recuperated at a facility in Northern Ireland. Bill was decommissioned in December 1945. He travelled home on the Queen Mary to New York City and then by train to Toronto. His legs had healed, but his hearing loss remained.

Upon returning home, Bill and his younger brother Harry, a Second World War Canadian Navy veteran, looked after one of their grandparent’s orchards on the 6^th Concession north of Orono. In 1947, Bill married Ruth Goode, and they raised four children. He was employed at General Motors and worked for 25 years as a supervisor in the truck plant. After retirement, Bill became a real estate agent for a few years and volunteered his time on the Orono Town Hall Historical Board. He was always helping others and was known for his wicked sense of humour. He died on June 27, 1999, at 79.

In 1954, at 17, he enlisted and was assigned to Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and sent to the Currie Barracks in Calgary for training. Many regular army brigades were converted into airborne mobile striking forces, including Bob, who was sent for paratrooper training in Camp Shilo and Rivers, Manitoba.

As a NATO member, Canada maintained a brigade group in Germany from 1950 to 1969. This was a period of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.  Although there was no direct fighting, each side had a sizable military presence in Germany to deter the other. With the 1^st Battalion of the PPCLI, Bob served two years in Germany from 1955 to 1957.  His unit was based at Dueling Hoffen. It was here that he became a PPCLI boxing champion for his weight class.

Bob was demobilized and returned home to Toronto in 1958. He pursued an amateur boxing career while working various jobs. In 1960, he was the national golden gloves bantamweight champion. In 1964, Bob married Joyce, raised two children, and moved to Edmonton. He spent 17 years at Domtar Packaging before returning to Toronto in 1981, where he worked at Corps of Commissionaires, before retiring in 1997.

To be closer to his son’s family, Bob moved to the Maple Grove area of Clarington in 2017. He became a member of the Bowmanville Legion, serving on the Colour Party. For the past three seasons, his post has been at the east entrance of the local Walmart store selling poppies. He’s been quite the salesman, and his total raised now exceeds $36,000 in poppy sales. 

Tom enlisted at 26 in Bowmanville with the 136th Battalion on March 18, 1916. He had two children already. Upon arriving in England in 1916, the unit was absorbed into the 39th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and eventually became known as the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. Their Canadian base was in Belleville, Ontario.

On January 2, 1917, the 39th Battalion was absorbed into the 6th Reserve Battalion (Eastern Ontario). This unit’s first active engagement was the 2nd Battle of Arras between April 9 and May 16, 1917. Unified attacks by both French and British forces on entrenched German positions took place over a broad front. For the first time, all Canadian troops were given the responsibility of taking Vimy Ridge.

Tom suffered a leg wound at Vimy, an injury that nearly caused an amputation. He was treated and his leg was saved, but he would walk with a limp the remainder of his life. Finally, he evacuated to England for recovery; his war was over.

Back in Bowmanville, Tom returned to employment at Goodyear until he retired. He and his wife raised three boys on Elgin Street. Tom did not drive and never owned a car. He enjoyed gardening and was known for his gladioli plants. Tom was one of the founders of the Bowmanville Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion and a lifetime member of the Loyal Orange Lodge 2384. He died in 1987. He was 98.

Robert Kinnear was born in Tattynure, Northern Ireland, on December 28, 1910. He moved to Canada with his parents and eight siblings in 1927 when he was 17, and the family settled in Jolicure, New Brunswick, where they farmed a small property. Robert worked hard to find employment at local logging camps to help support his family during the Great Depression.

War broke out in 1939 when Robert was 28, and he enlisted with the Eighth Princess Louise’s Hussars. His unit was mobilized as the 4th Canadian Motorcycle Regiment. In May 1940, the unit was converted to an armoured regiment and trained at Camp Gagetown in New Brunswick and Camp Borden in Ontario.

Robert married Elva Fenwick in Sussex, New Brunswick, on December 21, 1940. On October 9, 1941, his unit embarked for Britain. Upon arrival, he was reassigned to the Ontario Regiment, 11^th Armoured Regiment. After additional training, his unit was selected to join the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery in North Africa, arriving in 1943. In July, Robert and his regiment participated in the invasion of Sicily, known as Operation Husky and in September, they invaded the Italian mainland at Reggio, Calabria. They were soon joined by many other Canadian units, forming the First Canadian Division in Italy. From this point until early 1945, Robert’s unit was actively engaged along the entire Italian peninsula, garnering fifteen battle honours. In March 1945, they were transferred to the Northwest European theatre, accumulating another battle honour in the Netherlands.

Like many veterans, Robert never spoke of what he saw or experienced during the war but said he would never forget the “Moaning Minnie” sound, a type of mortar shell utilized by the enemy. At some point during his service, Robert’s tank was hit during a battle, and he was the only survivor, which wounded him physically and mentally. He spent time in the hospital recovering but eventually returned to his unit until the end of the war. Robert carried shrapnel from his injuries with him for the rest of his life.

Upon his return from war, Robert and his wife moved from New Brunswick to Barrie, Ontario, where he worked as a foreman at the First Co-Operative Packers. In 1954, Bob took a position as a supervisor at the Bowmanville Training School for Boys and moved to the area with his wife and two children. His son Ritson followed in his footsteps with a lengthy career in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Robert was a long-time volunteer driver for the Cancer Society and Bowmanville Community Care until his death in 1988 at 78. He was also a member of the Association of the 8^th Canadian Hussars and the Royal Canadian Legion. He loved his country and always wore his medals with great pride. He never considered himself a hero in any way; it was his duty.

George M. Kennedy

On February 5, 1941, at 19, George volunteered for infantry service in the Second World War and trained with the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. These were some of Canada’s most prestigious infantry regiments steeped in history dating back to the defence of Canada in the War of 1812. On September 16, 1941, he married Madeline Margaret Kirby of Cornwall.

In 1943, the regiment was selected to participate in Operation Husky, the Allied codename for the invasion of Sicily. The Canadian Army provided one infantry division and one armoured brigade to the effort, under the direction of the British 8th Army. Accordingly, the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment infantry formed part of the First Infantry Brigade of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. They stormed the southeastern shore of Sicily on July 10, 1943.

On the first day, George’s Brigade seized an airport outside Pachino, which allowed Allied aircraft a base to provide air support for ground troops and resupply logistics. The following two weeks found the Canadian infantry brigades moving inland through the island’s interior, which was rugged and mountainous. George saw action with his brigade, which received battle honours at Grammichele, Valguanera, Assoro and Agira.

On July 24, the brigade was advancing on Agira but could get no further than the nearby village of Nissoria due to enemy resistance. Between this village and the objective of Agira there were three ridges the German troops had fortified. George’s brigade initiated an attack on these ridges the following day, July 25, and 80 members of his brigade died in action, including George. He was 21.

On January 12, 1940, at 19, he volunteered to serve in the Second World War with the Canadian Forces. He was assigned to the Royal Canadian Medical Corps and was eventually transported overseas to England. He served with a Field Ambulance Unit, a mobile medical crew that treats wounded soldiers, evacuating them from the combat zone. In 1943, his unit participated in the invasion of Italy, supporting the various infantry divisions of the Canadian Army.

Early in 1945, the unit was relocated to the European front serving in France, Belgium and Holland. While serving in Holland, his troops were active in the liberation of Holland. A seven-year-old boy in Nieuwe Pekela watched in amazement as the Canadian soldiers marched through his hometown. Many years later, this same young man would become Herbert’s son-in-law.

On September 19, 1945, Herbert was discharged and returned to civilian life. Upon arriving home in Canada, he travelled to Corunna, Ontario, to meet his overseas pen pal, Jessie Violet Hayes. On June 5, 1946, they married and settled in Corunna. Initially, Herbert was the town constable but soon found employment in nearby Sarnia, Ontario, in the petrochemical plants. They have three daughters, nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Herbert’s eldest daughter lives in Bowmanville with her husband, child and two grandchildren, who are all very proud of their papa.

Herbert enjoyed gardening and playing golf with the Polysar retirees. He was an active member of the Anglican Church in Corunna and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 447, where he served terms as President and Past President. He felt great pride in being a veteran of the Canadian Army and always participated in the poppy campaign.

Herbert died on June 7, 2008. He was 87.

He worked as a teacher at Bowmanville High School in 1938 as a modern language specialist for French and German, and in 1940, he coached the high school senior rugby team to the Central Ontario Championship. One of his colleagues at Bowmanville High School was Leonard Lucas. The pair became great friends, and when the second World War erupted in 1939, they volunteered together in June 1941. Harold was 24 when he enlisted for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Leonard remained at various bases in Canada, training flight crews, and Harold was posted to England, assigned to the 418 Squadron, based at Bradwell Bay on the coast of the English Channel.

The 418 was an intruder squadron, and their aircraft were designed for air-to-air and ground attacks. Their missions were usually night operations at low levels to escape radar detection. They went into the heart of enemy territory to wreak havoc among departing or returning Luftwaffe night-fighter crews or shoot up enemy airfields. Their aircraft did not carry radar sets, meaning at night, targets had to be identified, lined up, and attacked, all with the naked eye, which takes immense skill and knowledge.

On October 17, 1942, a cross-country low-level training flight with three men lifted off from Bradwell Bay with a compass and radio bearing as their navigation. Unfortunately, the plane got off course and crashed into a 3,000-foot mountain in northern Wales, killing Harold and one other occupant. Harold was 26 when he died.

An avenue and an elementary school in Bowmanville are named in honour of Harold Longworth. 

On December 31, 1908, Leonard (Len) Lucas was born in Kent County, England, before moving to Canada as a young child. His family settled on the Dungannon Farm estate, owned by a wealthy American industrialist near Cobourg, Ontario. Len’s father farmed the property, and Len grew up working alongside him on the farm. Len studied mathematics at Queen’s University and graduated in 1936. After graduating, he taught math at Bowmanville High School (BHS) and, while there, met his wife, Patricia Emmett. One of his colleagues at BHS was Harold Longworth, who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with Len in June of 1941. The pair remained friends until Harold died in a plane crash on a training flight in 1942. Len was 32 years when he enlisted.

When the RCAF realized they had a skilled mathematician, they utilized him for training navigators for the RCAF, Royal Air Force, and Australian and New Zealand forces. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Program, Canada supplied thousands of skilled pilots and navigators for the war effort. He trained at bases across Canada, including Rivers, Manitoba and L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec.

Len was also a consultant developing a navigational system known as LORAN (Long Range Navigation), a radio-based system that offered accuracy at ranges up to 1,500 miles.It was first used for ship convoys crossing the Atlantic Ocean and then by long-range patrol aircraft before finding its primary use on the ships and aircraft operating in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War.

Following the war, Len continued teaching mathematics at the University of Toronto, instructing returning veterans looking to upgrade their education in civilian life. Later, he returned to high school, teaching at Humberside Collegiate in Toronto, and then, in 1954, he returned to BHS. He resided in Bowmanville and raised a family of four.

Len became Vice-Principal of BHS and then Principal before retiring in 1973. There was a strong sense of camaraderie amongst the staff at BHS, and Len carried those memories into his retirement at Shelter Valley near Cobourg until he died in 1987 at 78, not far from his childhood home.

On March 15, 1915, at 24, Alick enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force to serve in the First World War. He was assigned to the 19th Battalion of the Canadian 2nd Division and received his initial training at Exhibition Park in Toronto. This battalion shipped out to Shorncliffe, England, for additional training and then moved on to France in September of 1915, where it served with distinction until 1919. Due to his small stature, Alick was frequently called upon to participate in forward group action. Under cover of nightfall, these soldiers would enter no-man’s land between the trenches, creep close to enemy positions to gather intelligence and then report back. 

Alick and his battalion participated in many famous battles during the First World War, including:

• Battle of Flers-Courcelette (1916)
• Battle of Thiepval (1916)
• Battle of Le Transloy (1916)
• Battle of the Ancre Heights (1916)
• Vimy Ridge (1917)
• Hill 70 (1917)
• Passchendaele (1917)
• First Battle of the Somme (1918)
• Battle of Amiens (1918)
• Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
• Drocourt-Quéant (1918)
• Battle of the Hindenburg Line (1918)
• Canal du Nord (1918)
• Pursuit to Mons (1918) 

Throughout his three years of combat, Alick was fortunate to have never been wounded and returned home to Bowmanville, where he was the town clerk for the next 30 years. He was one of the principal founders of the Bowmanville Legion and was the branch president in 1934. In 1936, the Government of Canada invited him to be part of the delegation to unveil the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France. Alick was never married, but his favourite hobby was fishing with other local First World War veterans.

Alick died on November 11, 1968, fifty years, down to the hour, following the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War. Alick was 77.

Sterling had a great sense of humour, primarily when referring to his youth; this may have been a coping mechanism for his difficult childhood. He only went to school every other day, and there were only a few pairs of shoes for all the kids in the family. He knew when his mother had used up a flour sack because somebody in the family was wearing a new t-shirt with Robin Hood stamped on it.

In 1943, Sterling worked at Montreal Locomotive building railway locomotives but switched to armoured tanks for war-time production. Sterling’s brothers had all enlisted to serve in the Second World War, but Sterling wasn’t eligible until 1944. He enlisted in September of 1944, and completed his basic training at Camp Borden. He wasn’t allowed overseas because his brothers were already there, and the government was uncomfortable with having too many immediate family members in active combat. So instead, Sterling became a trainer and spent most of his service in Fredericton, NB, in the Demonstration Platoon, training recruits.

After demobilization in October 1945, Sterling returned to Newcastle, NB. He married Kathleen Somers and raised two children. They relocated to Wilberforce in 1947, joining one of his brothers at a veneer mill for 17 years. In Wilberforce, he served on the town council, and coached minor hockey, even though he couldn’t skate. He was managing the mill in 1964 when CurvePly Wood Products purchased it. Sterling and his family relocated to Orono, where he was the general manager of the production facility and later, Sterling retired in 1986 at 60.

Sterling’s first wife died in 1981, and he remarried Nancy Barry in 1990, moving to Newcastle. Nancy died in 2009, and Sterling now lives with his daughter in Oshawa. He has been a life-long Royal Canadian Legion member in Haliburton and now Branch 178 in Bowmanville. At 93, he has maintained his great sense of humour and wit. Many Branch members attest to being poked by Sterling’s jokes and how his presence brightens up any occasion. He is a self-taught man who rises from a humble background to success but never loses his common touch. 

His brother, a year younger, applied to come to Canada as an indentured farmhand but failed the physical as he was blind in one eye. With the trip already booked, Jack filled the position and arrived in Canada in 1929. He worked a three-year term on a farm near Norval, Ontario. In 1932, Jack found employment on an estate at Shanty Bay on the Kempenfelt arm of Lake Simcoe, near Barrie, Ontario. He worked there during the summer, moving to work for the estate owner in Toronto in the winter months, and met his wife, Evelyn Leavell.

On July 22, 1940, at 27, Jack enlisted to serve in the Second World War with the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, training at Camp Borden. In March 1941, Jack married Evelyn and moved to Collingwood, where they had two children before he embarked for England on June 16, 1943. Jack completed more training at a base near the British town of Aldershot.

On November 1, 1943, Jack’s regiment broke up for reinforcements. Consequently, Foresters found themselves represented in tank regiments in almost every theatre of conflict. Jack was assigned to the armoured unit of the 1st Hussars and began training for D-Day. Being an armoured unit, they had to learn to operate amphibious tanks. These tanks would embark deeper water and propel themselves ashore while creating a flotation screen using canvas around the tank as a hull, which enabled them to float. Rear propellers helped it drive through the water, but they were difficult to operate and could not tolerate rough seas, resulting in several losses of tanks and men during training.

Jack’s unit departed Portsmouth, England, for the Normandy attack on Juno Beach on June 5, 1944. The following dawn, they entered the water approximately 1,000 metres offshore when a wave swamped the tank, causing the crew to evacuate. Four of the five-person unit, including Jack, were killed by enemy machine-gun fire while attempting to make the beach. Jack was 31.

Jack’s son, grandson and two great-grandchildren are long-time residents of Bowmanville.

Along with the banner that is displayed in Bowmanville to honour Jack, there is a second banner displayed along the Juno Beach front that is placed by five French villages in honour of Jack’s sacrifice.

In 1937, George married Margaret Jean Turnbull of Hamilton and had five children. In 1941, at 28, he enlisted in the Canadian Army to serve in the Second World War. While in training, he developed severe mastoiditis, an ear infection that leads to more infection, principally in the brain. He required surgery and was transported back to Canada in 1943 and received a medical discharge.

George returned to employment as a TTC streetcar operator in Toronto until the Korean War erupted. In 1950, he enlisted again with the Canadian Army as a regular service member. He was assigned to the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and sent to Korea with his unit. Unfortunately, he suffered a head injury when he fell into a crater from a mortar shell.

He returned to Camp Borden and was reassigned to the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps, an administrative corps of the army in charge of finances. He held this position until his honourable discharge in 1961. After returning to Toronto, George found work as an apartment superintendent. Unfortunately, disability from illness and injury had taken its toll on his health, and George died on April 11, 1985. He was 72. He had served his country for 13 years through two wars.

George has one grandson and three grandchildren who are long-time residents of Clarington in both Courtice and Bowmanville.

John was assigned to a Corvette as an ordinary seaman, performing escort protection for convoys crossing from Halifax to Great Britain. These convoys carried vital war supplies and were under constant threat from German U-boats.

In March 1941, John volunteered for the Combined Operations Command and was transferred to HMS Northney on Hayling Island near Portsmouth for initial training on assault landing craft. He then transferred to HMS Quebec, a large, combined operations training base for landing craft training in April. This base was set up at Inveraray on the west coast of Scotland and was named 'The No. 1 Combined Training Centre', of which HMS Quebec was the naval component.  

This base trained the expanding army invasion force in the latest amphibious landing techniques, including embarkation and disembarkation onto enemy-held beaches. As a result of his combined operations training, John was promoted to Able Seaman and operated a landing craft during the following enemy engagements.

• Operation Torch - The Invasion of North Africa (November 1942)
• Operation Husky – The Invasion of Sicily (July 1943) 
• Operation Avalanche – The invasion of Italy at Salerno (September 1943) 
• Operations Neptune (Naval Component)
• Overlord (The D-Day Landings) - Normandy (June 6, 1944)

After the war, John was discharged from the Royal Navy in January 1946, and returned to Belfast. He began working for Sirocco Engineering Works, a large engineering company building industrial air conditioning and manufacturing machinery for the tea industry. He died in July 1955. He was 37.

John dreamed about immigrating with his family to Canada but sadly passed away before fulfilling his objective. Eventually, his wife and two children came to Canada. His son, now retired, was a long-serving member of the Durham Regional Police Service. John's grandson and family are long-time residents of Bowmanville and the sponsors of his banner in recognition of their grandfather's service during the war.

John James “Jack” Norwick was born on April 4, 1917, in Fort William, now known as Thunder Bay. He was the first son and second of nine children. His parents came to Canada in 1914 from Romania, and the family moved to the area now known as Durham Region around 1918 and lived on a series of farms in Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville and Pontypool. Because the family was quite poor and the children were needed to work on the farm, Jack only had a seventh-grade education. He left home at 13 to work on a nearby farm for room and board.

Jack served as Queen’s York Ranger starting in June 1940 and then enlisted for Canadian Active Service on October 1, 1940, in Toronto, Ontario.

He trained and served for nine months at Camp Borden in Ontario before going overseas for 50 months, serving in the United Kingdom, Sicily, Italy and Northeastern Europe. He was a qualified driver in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and was proud to be the driver for both General Crerar and General Burns during his time in Italy. His discharge papers note that he had “pre-enlistment experience in driving” as well as a good record in the army driving for General Crerar, which meant Jack would be considered favourable for any driving job.

After the war, Jack returned to Canada and secured a job at the Goodyear Tire Factory in Bowmanville. He also worked at General Motors in Oshawa and as a security guard at Camp X.

Jack decided to use his driving skills and went into the taxi business and became the owner of Terminal Taxi in Whitby. He then went to work at Fittings Limited in downtown Oshawa and worked there until his retirement.

It was while he was driving a taxi in Whitby that he met Gloria Harris, and they married and settled in Oshawa and had six children. Jack died on March 27, 1995, the year marking the 50^th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War. He was 77.

Patrick O'Brien

Biography coming soon. 

In 1942, at 20, Michael enlisted for service in the Royal Canadian Army and entered infantry training. He was very proud to finish finished every 80-kilometre hike with a full pack while other men fell by the wayside. Then, as he was ready to embark for England, he couldn’t walk anymore. He had flat feet.

This did not hold him back, and because of his enthusiasm to serve, he was given options, and selected the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC). The RCASC was the administrative and transport corps of the Canadian Army. They moved supplies to the frontlines, delivered all rations, ammunition, petroleum products, and all other essentials. They made their deliveries on a variety of vehicles ranging from three to ten-ton trucks, and forty-ton tank transporters. Michael was trained to operate heavy vehicles at Camp Borden in Ontario before being sent overseas.

Michael joined his unit, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade Company, entering the fray in Europe from 1944-45, supporting the First Canadian Army to push through Belgium and Holland. One memorable convoy he participated in was bringing food supplies to the starving population in northern Holland. Toward the end of the war, Michael met Johanna, a Dutch girl, the love of his life. Unfortunately, they had no time to marry before he returned to Canada, where he could not remain part of the army due to his feet.

Michael worked at the central post office in Montreal for 35 years. Johanna joined him in Canada, and they were married in July 1947, settling in Montreal, where they raised their three children. In retirement, they followed their children to Toronto, eventually living in Bowmanville with their eldest daughter. Wherever he resided, Michael was a member of the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, including Branch 178 in Bowmanville. At the end of his life, Veterans Affairs Canada treated him with care and compassion. Michael died at home in Newcastle on April 5, 2018. He was 96.

The RCASC moved supplies to the frontlines, delivering rations, ammunition, petroleum products, and all other essentials. They did so with various vehicles ranging from three to ten-ton trucks and forty-ton tank transporters. Harvey already knew how to operate farm equipment and heavy vehicles and was recognized for his mechanical ability and aptitude for motors.

As the only male child in his family, the family needed his assistance on the farm during the growing and harvesting periods, so he was returned home between June and October of 1944. He reported back for service in November 1944, but in July of 1945, he returned home to assist on the farm until October of that year. He returned to base in Kingston and was demobilized on April 1, 1946.

After serving, Harvey returned to Goodyear Rubber, opened a business for farm equipment and purchased the mill in Tyrone, working all three simultaneously. He married Bernice Quinney on August 9, 1947, and raised two boys and three girls. He attended trade school and opened Harvey Partner Plumbing, Heating, Electrical and Air Conditioning, which he ran for 40 years until his death on March 19, 1993. Harvey was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, President of the Bowmanville Rotary Club, Loyal Orange Lodge, and a member of the Masonic Lodge. Harvey was the Commissioner of Hydro for 22 years and was instrumental in amalgamating Newcastle Hydro to Veridian Hydro.

Harvey’s service never took him overseas, as the war was almost over when he enlisted. However, food rationing, sending supplies overseas, and local food production was as crucial as sending men into combat. He was likeable, mechanically inclined, and enthusiastic about the Army. He served with honour.

Cyril arrived in Liverpool in May 1917 and was assigned to the 134th Battalion at Camp Witley. This is possibly the same camp that his son, Howard Quinney, would have been dispatched to 25 years later when he joined the Canadian Army in Holland during the Second World War. On February 28, 1918, Cyril joined the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles (4th CMR), a storied regiment that had already taken part in iconic Canadian battles at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. He would have shared in the emerging national pride and the growing sense that Canada was becoming a distinct country, separate from England and barely more than 50 years old.

Cyril saw some of the bloodiest battles in which the Canadian Corps engaged in the final days of the First World War. The first was the Battle of Amiens from August 8 to 14, 1918. At Amiens, Cyril witnessed the beginning of the end for the German Army. German forces suffered a stunning setback there, mainly at the hands of the Canadian Corps, who met and defeated elements of fourteen German divisions. Cyril likely encountered gas attacks, hand-to-hand combat, machine-gun fire, and artillery bombardment during the Amiens campaign.

On August 28 at Boiry, the 4th CMR was part of the Allied effort to break through the Hindenberg Line - a series of German trenches 30 kilometres deep along the Canadian section of the Western Front. It was the most heavily defended part of German defences along the front. The German high command knew they would have to hold it or lose the war. The 4th CMR was assigned to break the formidable Fresnes-Rouvroy trench making up part of the Hindenberg Line. Unfortunately, a bullet grazed Cyril's neck during that battle and struck another young Canadian standing directly behind him. That boy died instantly. Cyril was evacuated to a Canadian Casualty Assembly Centre behind Canadian lines with a wound to the neck. From there, he went back to England to recover. With Armistices declared ten weeks later, Cyril was sent back to Canada and discharged from the army in January 1919.

On his return to Bowmanville, Cyril met and married Alice Gwilliams. They set up residence on Duke Street, raised seven children, and became grandparents to many more. In civilian life, he worked on the Grand Trunk Railroad until he retired in the late 1950s. He was a proud man and enjoyed life to the fullest. He died in 1966. He was 69.

In 1941, at 17, Howard enlisted in the Canadian Army and joined the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC) at Camp Borden, an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. They procured all the materials required by the Army, from clothing to weapons. Up until 1944, the RCOC was responsible for maintenance and repair. Ordnance Field Parks carried everything from spare parts to spare artillery and supported the active Divisions and Corps. In February 1944, a reorganization of the Canadian Army Corps took place. The Ordnance Corps were combined with the Royal Canadian Engineers and the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, forming a new unit named the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

While most enlisted soldiers desired action, this logistics role was vital to the war effort, providing critical support for the frontlines. In January 1945, Howard and his newly designated unit were sent to the Netherlands; at that time, the main Canadian effort was focused on the liberation of Holland. While Howard did not see any action, his knowledge and expertise supported the overall war effort. He returned to Canada in July 1945 and was demobilized on October 23.

Howard settled in Newcastle with his wife Kathleen (nee Fenton) in 1956 to raise a family. He was a barber for many years before he and Kathleen established small town department stores under the Stedmans franchise in Newcastle and Bowmanville.

Howard and Kathleen are remembered in Newcastle for their volunteer efforts. Kathleen mentored many Newcastle girls as a Girl Guide Leader, and Howard was involved with the Lions, the Masons and the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce. He loved hockey and played the game right up until he died on March 17, 1999. He was 75. Howard won many scoring titles playing in the Newcastle Town League and was reputed to have the sharpest elbows in the league. He was a good man who performed his duty to his country and his community throughout his life.

Ben was assigned to the 11th Armoured Ontario Regiment and received tank training at Base Borden. However, he was not fond of driving tanks and compared them with driving around in a cement mixer. He soon transferred to the Lincoln and Welland Regiment.

Since Ben was not yet 18, he was not immediately sent overseas and started out guarding various bases in Newfoundland. During this time, he met and married Jean Ferguson. Four days after his wedding in Halifax, he was shipped out to England. His training base was in Sussex, England, where he was assigned to the 4^th Canadian Armoured Division. In August of 1941, he participated in Operation Claymore, a raid on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen. Control of this island was crucial to the northern convoy routes to Russia.

Ben’s unit landed in Normandy a few days after the D-Day invasions and engaged in battles that took them from Caen to Falaise in northwest France. Next, they pushed into Belgium, where Ben received wounds at the battle for the Leopold Canal. After treatment, he returned to his unit, which by now had advanced into Holland.

He was the only one out of five soldiers aboard a Bren Gun Carrier in Holland to survive an enemy attack, although he was seriously injured. He was evacuated to a hospital in Aldershot, England, to heal and eventually return home. War in the European Theatre ended in May 1945 when Ben and several other recuperating soldiers were still in hospital and anxious to get home. Acts of civil disobedience occurred to stress their frustrations, which resulted in them being sent home in July of 1945. Ben was honourably discharged in September 1945, a full six years after he enlisted.

Finally reunited with his wife in Ontario, they settled in Ajax and raised their two sons and daughter. Ben worked various jobs at General Motors and Doughty Equipment before becoming a permanent firefighter with the Ajax Fire Department, and even served as a councillor. He was one of the founders of the Ajax Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. At his funeral service, his son eulogized him as a good husband, father, soldier, and very good man. His connection to Clarington is his nephew Gary Cole, a Bowmanville native and lifelong resident.

Sonny enlisted to serve in the Second World War on January 19, 1942, at 19. He was assigned to and saw action with the 1st and 2nd Canadian Survey Regiments as a despatch rider. Survey troops were attached to Artillery Field Batteries, assisting with spotting enemy artillery. These units were critical and employed when the front became static, holding up the advances of the infantry.

Observers of gunshot flashes from three different points (forward units) would provide reference points using triangulation for their artillery regarding the location of enemy guns. The despatch rider, on a motorcycle, co-ordinated communications between forwarding observers and delivered findings to artillery field units. Sonny went ashore in France after D-Day and supported the artillery of the 1st Canadian Division in both France and Germany.

He was demobilized in 1946 and returned home to the Goodyear plant until he retired in 1978. He married Nyhl King and raised one daughter, Carol. Utilizing the Veterans Land Act, they built a home on Lambs Lane in Bowmanville. Sonny died on April 29, 2007. He was 84.

The Juno Beach Centre is a Canadian Second World War Museum located in Courseulles-Sur-Mer, Normandy, France. It was opened in 2003 by veterans and volunteers with a vision to create a permanent memorial to all Canadians who served during the Second World War. The Centre’s mandate is to preserve this legacy for future generations through education and remembrance. In addition, several kiosks contain donated commemorative bricks paying tribute to individual veterans, with one of them bearing Arthur’s name.

In 1942, at 17, he enlisted to serve in the Second World War. He was assigned to the Midland Regiment and opted to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. He trained in gunnery and bombing in Toronto at Exhibition Park and at bases at Fingal in Ontario, Greenwood in Nova Scotia, Summerside in Prince Edward Island and Goose Bay in Labrador.

In October 1943, he was shipped overseas to a base in Bournemouth, England and transferred to Elsham Wolds, where he flew all his operational sorties (missions). Cliff participated in 31 missions as a bomb aimer on a Lancaster Bomber aircraft. 

In January 1944, after being crippled by enemy flak, his aircraft went down into the North Sea. All seven crew members managed to bail out and scramble aboard a rubber life raft. A Norwegian fishing vessel rescued them and safely returned them to England.

Cliff doesn’t dwell on many particulars of his wartime experiences. He considers himself fortunate to have returned home when many aircrews did not. However, there is one mission that Cliff does talk about — an operation named Manna. During the last couple of weeks of the Second World War, fighting was raging in Holland, and the population was suffering from a famine, resulting in thousands of deaths. With the reluctant agreement of the occupying enemy forces, all fighting ceased, permitting bomber aircraft to drop food and medical supplies to the starving Dutch peoples. Cliff marvelled that the war could be turned on and off like a switch. 

Cliff returned home in February 1946 and was decommissioned in May of that year. He worked at the Bowmanville Training School and took extension courses from McMaster University for labour and industrial relations, which helped him gain employment at General Motors in the labour relations section. Eventually, he worked in the security department until he retired in 1982. Cliff married Aura Prout in 1946 and had one son. Three of his brothers also served during the Second World War. Cliff died on April 21, 2022, at the age of 96.

On April 24, 1942, at 19, Glenn volunteered to serve in the Second World War in Kingston. He was assigned to The Canadian Grenadier Guards, a Montreal-based unit with a long and storied past in Canadian history and the second most senior regiment in the Canadian Army. It was first formed in 1859 to counter the threat from Fenian Raids in the southern areas of Quebec. It served with distinction in both the Boer War and the First World War. A Grenadier was a specially trained infantryman equipped to launch and throw small bombs or grenades.

In the Second World War, the face of battle had dramatically changed. There would be no static fighting from the trenches as more modern weaponry created the ability to move the fronts, pushing back the opposing enemy. The infantry was still important, but now they were supported with armoured vehicles, more powerful and punishing artillery and aggressive air cover. This required more personnel dedicated to these functions, and the Grenadier Guards were one of the units re-designated, becoming the 22^nd Armoured Regiment in November 1940.

After initial training in Quebec, Glenn’s unit was shipped to England on September 25, 1942. He trained as a tank operator/mechanic at several bases in England and Scotland, and during this time, he met and married Joan Martin. His unit, the 4^th Armoured Brigade of the 4^th Armoured Division was deployed to Normandy on July 21, 1944. The unit fought until VE Day on May 8, 1945, through the battles around Falaise, the move into Belgium and the Netherlands, and finally across the Rhine into Germany, earning 12 Battle Honours.  Glenn was a boxer and won his brigade title while serving in the Netherlands. After victory in Europe, the unit was allocated for the war in the Pacific, to fight on the islands of Japan, but this conflict ended before his unit could be deployed overseas.

Glenn was demobilized on January 25, 1946. His family had expanded to three by the time of his return to Bowmanville, with a daughter born in England in March 1945, and they would also add a son, born in 1948. Glenn worked at the Specialty Paper Company on Temperance Street as an engineer/mechanic, maintaining the production machinery and remained there until his death on July 25, 1978. He was 54.

Glenn played the fiddle and took part in many local events. He was a member of Branch 178 of the local Royal Canadian Legion. When their Queen Street building expanded in the 1950s with an addition at the rear, Glenn and three other veterans each took a beer bottle and cemented them into the four corners of the new foundation.

James graduated from Osgoode Hall School of Law in 1908 and became a barrister. In addition to his legal career, James served with two local military units: three years with the 36th Peel Regiment and with the 12th York Rangers as an officer, Lieutenant Wallace. On December 24, 1915, at 30, he volunteered to serve in the First World War with the 127th York Rangers Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Before leaving, James married Kathleen Hartney on July 29, 1916.

James and Kathleen arrived in England on August 23, 1916. Usually, a large group of boys from the same town were not allowed to fight together to minimize the impact on the community at home if they suffered mass casualties. Yet, the 127th York Rangers Battalion was kept intact and became the 2nd Battalion Canadian Railway Troops.

They built light railway lines close to the front for the rapid movement of troops and supplies from established railway heads. By the end of the war in 1918, Canada had contributed thirteen battalions of railway troops, the only nation possessing this capability.

On January 12, 1917, the 2nd Battalion arrived in France. They supported Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge in April of that year and again at Passchendaele in October, where James was severely injured in a poison gas attack. The strenuous conditions took a toll on James, and the recurrence of his phlebitis and the inflammation it caused proved disabling. He was sent back to England on October 29, 1917, declared unfit for service on November 17 and returned to Canada on December 1. They returned as a family of three, welcoming their daughter on September 15 in England.

James returned to his legal practice and had two more sons. He died on January 15, 1929, in Toronto due to heart trouble attributed to overseas war service. He was 44. James’ family purchased a summer home in the Village of Newcastle, where his son Tom met and married Mary Toms. They raised their family of five from 1952 until they returned to Toronto in 1964, and to this day, the family continues to holiday at the summer home.

His initial training occurred at Base Petawawa. The 7th Medium Regiment was raised in September 1939 with the mobilization of four Ontario militia field artillery batteries: the 12th (London), 45th (Lindsay), 97th (Walkerton) and 100th (Listowel). During that time at Base Petawawa, there were several organizational changes forming the 7th Army Field Regiment, RCA. Doug was part of the 45th battery in that regiment.

Doug went to England in October of 1942, where he spent the next 20 months in training. After that, his battery took part in the major battles such as Normandy, the Seine crossing, the Channel ports (Boulogne and Calais), the Scheldt, Bergen op Zoom, Nijmegen salient, the Rhineland, the Rhine crossing, the advance through central and northern Netherlands, and finally across the Ems River into northwest Germany.

Within 10 months, the 7th occupied about 60 gun positions and fired nearly 70,000 rounds of 100-pound shells. On November 29, 1945, Doug returned to Canada and was honourably discharged on January 21, 1946.

After settling again in Newcastle, he married Marilyn Enwright in 1946 and raised a family of four boys. In town, he ran a taxi service and operated a convenience store. In 1950, he was hired by General Motors and worked in Oshawa until retirement in 1980.  He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 178 in Bowmanville and served as president from 1980 to 1984.  In the 1960s, he was a committee member responsible for creating a cenotaph in the village of Newcastle. Doug died on March 24, 2002. He was 79.

On the evening of March 15, 1944, the operational Lancaster Bombers of 426 Squadron lifted off from their base at Linton-on-Ouse, England. Lorne was the tail gunner on one of these aircraft, and the squadron met up with other Bomber Command aircraft that had left their bases, about 860 bombers in total. The mission was a bombing raid on the southern German city of Stuttgart. This force was routed over southern France, almost to the Swiss border, before turning northeast for the attack on Stuttgart. This also served to delay the German night fighter aircraft, but when they arrived over the target, brutal air combats ensued. Thirty-seven bombers were lost in action, approximately 4.3 per cent of the raid force.

Lorne’s aircraft was shot down and crashed into the Boblingen Forest, an area southwest of Stuttgart. All seven crew members died. Lorne was 20. It was a terrible night for Bowmanville, as two of the other aircraft lost on this raid contained local boys. Alec Colville and Kenneth Cole also died in the same action on this date.

In 1947, the RCAF received a letter from a local resident of the German village of Steinenbronn, near the crash site of Lorne’s bomber. Although sheltering during the raid, the townspeople were aware that one of the aircraft had come down in the wooded area close to town. When the raid ended, they immediately searched for the aircraft to give aid to any surviving airmen. The letter explains that the townspeople took photos at airmen’s places of death and retrieved the identity disks and other personal effects. The airmen’s remains were treated with respect until they were turned over to authorities the following day. The Gestapo confiscated the cameras, but the townspeople managed to hold onto and return the personal property of the airmen. Part of the correspondence reads:

“The time has come now that the war is no longer separating nations, and even the German people dare hope they will be trusted and humanly recognized again by others, and so we will write down this story for the next-of-kin of the dead airmen and the Royal Canadian Air Force.”