These Canadian soldiers: who are them?

CORPORAL JOSEPH FRANCIS MC INTYRE

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery ( XIV E 5)

Regiment number F55009

Born in Sydney Mines (Nova Scotia, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 28.

Enlisted at the Sydney Mines recruitment center in 1941.

Captured with Private Charles Doucette.

Before leaving for Great-Britain he had asked his brother and his sister-in-law to give his first name to their baby. When a girl was born she was called Marie-Francis. As his mother was very old, she was never told the truth about his death so as to spare her the painful circumstances.

He was sentenced to 10 days in jail in June 1941 for disobeying a direct order. According to his recruiter he was a natural leader who inspired his men, a respected commander.

PRIVATE CHARLES DOUCETTE

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Bény- sur- Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VI A 16)

Regiment number F55317

Born in Sydney (Nova Scotia, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 31.

Recruited at Sydney Recruiting Centre. Joined the North Nova Scotia Highlanders in June 1940.

Taken prisoner at the battle of Authie.

His family has often come back to the Abbey of Ardenne. The funeral was held by his Indian Tribe, KMAQ, in their traditional dress. His four daughters were living in Nova Scotia.

LIEUTENANT THOMAS ALFRED LEE WINDSOR

27 CAR ( CANADIAN ARMOURED REGIMENT) SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 2)

Regiment Number

Born on November 10th, 1914 in Montréal (Québec, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 29.

Before the war he worked as a buyer for Eaton’s, once the largest department store in Canada.

1,80m tall and weighing 90 kg, he was a mighty figure. He was good company. He liked playing bridge. A sportsman, he was the captain of the polo team.

After joining up an armoured unity in the Milice he was quickly promoted. A sergeant in the Milice, he was enlisted as a private in the Army.

He was taken prisoner together with his tank’s crew.

Lieutenant Thomas Alfred Lee Windsor wouldn’t answer the SS soldiers’ questions: he limited himself to giving his name, rank, and regiment number. An SS Officer led him and his crew to the garden. The seven men shook hands for the last time, and then they were shot down one by one as their names were called.

After the war, Eaton’s offered his wife Rom Windsor a job as supervisor of the women’s clothing department, with the prospect of travelling across the United States and Europe. She married again and lived with her husband southwest of Montréal. She died in the 90s.

PRIVATE ROGER LOCKHEAD

27 CAR (CANADIAN ARMOURED REGIMENT) SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 10)

Regiment number D46464

Born in Montréal (Québec, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 25.

He belonged to Windsor’s unity and was captured with the others by the SS (Schutzstaffel)

He married Rose Lockhead on June 1st, 1941 and had a young son called Richard. He used to write 4 to 5 letters to his family every week. He was thinking of settling as a farmer after the war.

PRIVATE YVAN LEE CROWE

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 12)

Regiment number F56043

Born in New Glasgow (Nova Scotia, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 22.

He joined his cousin Aulden Peppard in the unit.

A fatherless orphan, he worked on his brother’s farm from an early age.

He was hired by the NRMA (the National Roads and Motorists’ Association Ltd). He preferred joining the Army.

On his first leave in July 1943 he came back on July 7th although he was due back on July 4th. As a consequence, he lost several days of pay.

Before being recruited, he had been in the 14^th Field Artillery in North Nova Scotia.

He fired two 81mm mortar shells at the village of Authie at nightfall.

In 1943, he met a young lady named Dorothy Rowe in England.

PRIVATE HUGH ALLEN MC DONALD

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 9)

Regiment number F55361

Born in Morvan (North Nova Scotia). Lost his life at the age of 24.

A fatherless orphan, he left school at an early age. He first worked on a farm and then at a sawmill which earned him the nickname “slab” by his comrades-in-arms.

He joined up in February 1942. He received basic infantry training in the 61^stNova Scotia Infantry Company. As no photography of Mc Donald could be found, this portrait was drawn after a print published in a Nova Scotian newspaper.

PRIVATE GEORGE EDWARD MILLAR

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 3)

Regiment number C100139

Born on May 24th, 1925 in Ontario (Canada). Lost his life at the age of 19.

He was a baker’s son who became popular with his schoolmates for bringing them bagfuls of buns. He left school when he was 14 to work for his father as a delivery boy.

As he was stocky and robust he looked older than his age. He tried to join up pretending he was 18 when he was only 15. In 1942 he succeeded, telling the recruiter he was born in 1923. In spite of this lie they kept him.

PRIVATE GEORGE RICHARD MC NAUGHTON

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 7)

Regiment number F62169

Born in Sydney ( Nova Scotia, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 20.

As he was an illegitimate child, he was handed over to an orphanage with his brother and then he was separated from him and put in the care of a nurse in 1926. Later, from 1932 to 1941, he attended a school for children with special needs in Truro (Nova Scotia). He worked as a labourer first in a brickyard and then in a sawmill. Later he worked as a washer-up in a self-service restaurant and finally he was a dock worker.

He enlisted in 1943 by falsifying his date of birth.

This soldier of the A Company repelled the Wehrmacht advance towards Buron, but the Germans were moving very fast and the A Company got encircled. There were many survivors but they were taken prisoners.

PRIVATE HAROLD GEORGE PHILP

SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 6)

Regiment number B134704

Born in Manilla (Ontario, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 32.

He was the youngest of 5 children and he had to leave school to work on his parents’ farm. He left the farm in 1937 to work with his brother who was a carpenter. Then he worked in a nickel mine.

His recruiter described him as an intelligent and well-built young man.

When he was 31, he rejoined the Borden Camp for his training.

PRIVATE GEORGE VINCENT GILL

SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT

Buried at Bény- sur- Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VI C 1)

Regiment number C38307

Member of the 27^th CAR (CANADIAN ARMOURED REGIMENT)

Born on May20th, 1922 in England.

His mother died some time in 1923. His father emigrated to Canada where George went to school until he was 14. He worked in a tile factory until October 1942.

He loved base-ball and supported the Frontenac Team.

In 1942 he was recruited into an armoured regiment. He lied about his age pretending his date of birth was not 1922 but 1921.

On May 11^th, 1943 he celebrated his birthday before rejoining the B Squadron of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers on July 2^nd, 1943.

LIEUTENANT FREDDIE WILLIAMS

MILICE STORMONT DUNDAS & GLENGARRY HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Bény- sur- Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VI E 11)

Regiment number ?

Lost his life at the age of 22.

He was killed as he was patrolling in a no man’s land near Authie by soldiers of the 25^th Panzer Grenadier 3^rd battalion 9^th company. With Lieutenant Reg Dixon of the S.O.E (Special Operation Executive) he helped spotting the enemy signs and the highways blocked by the Wehrmacht.

He enlisted in 1940, became a lieutenant in 1942, and was sent to England.

Although he was a man of small stature who had a calm nature, he was trusted by his men.

One of his neighbours recalled that his parents never quite recovered from his death. (cf Memory of Smithville by Dorothy Donihee).

PRIVATE WALTER MICHAEL DOHERTHY

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 4)

Regiment number F40898

Lost his life at the age of 22.

He was among the last eight soldiers who left for England in 1943.

With the help of the other soldiers in his company he cut the enemy troops that were progressing towards Authie but the Germans counter-attacked and he was cut off from the rest of his company.

CORPORAL GEORGE EDWARD POLLARD

MILICE STORMONT DUNDAS & GLENGARRY HIGHLANDERS

Panel 22 of the Memorial of the Missing, Bayeux British War Cemetery

Regiment number C54200

Born in Cornwell (Ontario, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 19.

“I have a feeling that the war will be over next spring, and I will be home again” he wrote his family at the end of 1943. And in the margin he added the usual caricatures of members of this family he was looking forward to seeing again.

His mother Ethel Pollard lived in the house where George was born until she was 90. She continued to live with her son’s memory, and she kept waiting for him to reappear at the kitchen door.

PRIVATE HOLLIS LESLIE MC KEIL

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Ryes Commonwealth Cemetery (II D 1)

Regiment number F50175

Lost his life at the age of 33.

He joined at Amherst (Nova Scotia, Canada).

Wounded by a bullet in the chest on June 7th, 1944, he was left lying on a stretcher the whole day. At night, alone and with a wounded ankle, he found shelter in a building which turned out to be in the hands of the SS.

PRIVATE REGINALD KEEPING

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Bény- sur- Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VI A 15)

Regiment number F56574

Born in Burgeo (Newfoundland, Canada). Lost his life at the age of 21.

He was the only son of a Newfoundland family who had resettled in Nova Scotia. When he was very young, he worked transmitting telegrams and then he worked in a bowling-alley. He played for the local baseball and basketball teams.

He joined up at Halifax in March 1943.

He had a rebellious side and would leave or go over the wall without permission.

His parents had difficulties working through their grief. “ Why Reg?” Wilson kept saying. After losing her only son and her husband, his mother went to the USA for a while and then came back to Nova Scotia and died there.

PRIVATE JAMES ALVIN MOSS

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Bény- sur- Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VII H 8)

Regiment number F45209

Born in Stellarton (Nova Scotia, Canada). Beaten to death at the Abbey of Ardenne.

He was the very first Stellarton inhabitant to enlist into the Canadian Army. He was captured on June 7^th, 1944 at dawn. He was one of the ten soldiers who volunteered to go towards the Abbey and scout around.

PRIVATE JAMES ELGIN BOLT

SHERBROOKE FUSILIERS REGIMENT

Buried at Bény- sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery (VI C 2)

Regiment number B48881

Born in Saint-Thomas (Ontario, Canda).

He was a fair-haired, blue-eyed man of small stature.

He joined the Milice and then entered into active service after several health problems. He was enlisted in an armoured unit in England and then he rejoined the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment where he became the radio operator of the crew.

PRIVATE THOMAS EDWARD MONT

NORTH NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS

Buried at Cintheaux Canadian War Cemetery (XIV E 8)

Regiment number F50297