November 11, 2021
SARNIA A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO OUR LOCAL HEROES
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The Sarnia Journal
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Storytelling has a unique ability to help us remember
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hat you have before you is The Journal’s sixth annual Sarnia Remembers edition. This 24-page special section is published for Remembrance Day to recognize Sarnia’s military contributions over the past 125 years. The goal is to commemorate the men, women, and even children who fought to protect our way of life, and pay tribute
GEORGE MATHEWSON to those who continue to serve today. Storytelling is a powerful way to connect people while conveying the history and
values that unite us. As with previous editions, most of the stories contained within have never been widely told before, beyond the families involved. They are about ordinary local residents who left their jobs, schools and farms to fight in extraordinary conflicts. Some are sad; some inspiring. All are true. This edition draws heavily on the Sarnia War Remembrance
Project, the exhaustive reservoir of military history compiled by retired teacher Tom Slater. Slater began the undertaking in 2012 after discovering no formal record existed of Sarnians who died while serving Canada. The third and final edition, a two-volume set, was published earlier this year. I would like to thank the talented writers, researchers and
fact-checkers for the content in this year’s Sarnia Remembers, especially Slater himself, Tom St. Amand and Randy Evans. Thank you to the families who so generously shared their family tales, letters and photo albums. And kudos to our sales team, graphic artists and all of our advertisers, without whom this special edition would not be possible.
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NEW RECRUITED SOLDIERS, with guns over their shoulders, march to a waiting train for deployment to the First World War in this image recorded at Ferry Dock Hill in downtown Sarnia. Photograph courtesy of the Lambton Heritage Museum, Grand Bend. COVER ART: A detail from Gassed, a painting by John Singer Sargent completed in 1919, which depicts the aftermath of a mustard gas attack in the First World War. Page 1 design, Erika Last.
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Submarine torpedo ended the life of young neighbours TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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t happened in the North Atlantic on Dec. 1, 1940 and it changed the lives of two Sarnia families forever. The HMCS Saguenay was among the destroyers escorting a convoy of ships headed northeast towards Britain. At 3:30 a.m., in radio silence and about 300 nautical miles west of Ireland, the Saguenay was on high alert for enemy submarines, zigzagging at twelve knots.
Hector Le Gare
Aboard the A-class destroyer were Hector Le Gare, 21, and Paul Brown, 20. The two men shared similar backgrounds, having grown up within
two blocks of each other in Sarnia. They attended SCITS a year apart and both men lost their fathers at a young age.
Paul Brown
Le Gare was diminutive and had served six years as a navigator with the Canada Steamship Lines before enlisting in the Canadian Naval Reserve. Three months earlier, he had said goodbye to his mother Hazel and five sisters and joined the Saguenay as an Able Seaman. Though a year younger, Paul Brown enlisted earlier. Presenting consent papers signed by his mother, he signed up with the Royal Canadian Navy in January of 1938, six months before turning 18. Almost two years later, the strapping six-footer was assigned to the Saguenay as a pompom
NEVER FORGOTTEN
gunner. Brown and his three siblings had been devastated in August of 1940 when their mother, a local schoolteacher, died suddenly. Ada Brown, in what was ruled an accident, fell from a second storey window of their Maria Street home and landed on the paved driveway. She incurred severe brain injuries, a fractured pelvis and died the following day. Nearby, at her home on North Mitton Street, Hazel Le Gare prayed continually for the safety of her only son. And so it was that THE BOW OF the HMCS Saguenay was largely blown off. the two young Sarnians were aboard the Saguenay together that bitter managed to fend off the But it was too late. December morning. Argo, which left the area The Argo’s torpedo An Italian submarine unscathed, sank a freightstruck the destroyer’s named the Argo slipped bow. The fiery blast killed er in another convoy on to the surface behind Dec. 5, and and arrived 21 crewmembers, most the convoy and moved safely back at its base in of them on the forward forward, its movements Bordeaux, France. mess decks where the masked by darkness. Ninety members blaze and acrid smoke Watchers aboard the of the Saguenay were prevented firefighting. Saguenay saw a flare transferred to the British Among them were shoot up from the dark destroyer Highlander and Hector Le Gare and Paul sea and Commander a skeleton crew operated George Miles ordered his Brown, who became the the crippled destroyer. It second and third Sarship to increase speed nians to die in the Second arrived four days later in and head toward it. The World War. England. crew spotted the sub half The Saguenay’s crew At SCITS, a period of a mile away.
Submitted Photo
silence was observed as Principal F.C. Asbury announced the death of the two former students. Hector Le Gare was buried in a cemetery at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, and his name is engraved as H. Legarrie on the Sarnia cenotaph. Paul Brown’s body was never recovered. He is memorialized on the Sarnia cenotaph and the Halifax Memorial in Nova Scotia.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn; At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. -Laurence Binyon, “Ode of Remembrance”
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Affable young navigator crashed after bombing run TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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s a boy, Howard Morris loved building model airplanes, and so when the Second World War broke out he naturally enlisted in Royal Canadian Air Force. The Morrises lived on Christina Street, just south of Exmouth. Howard was born on Sept. 19, 1921, the only son of Marie and Lloyd, and an older brother to Georgina. The dad worked worked at Imperial Oil. Howard Morris was educated at London Road School and SCITS, played several different sports and was interested in hunting and camping. He joined the local Boy Scouts, was active in the Century Club, and
Howard Morris
was a devout member of Central United Church, where he served as an usher during Sunday services. He was good at music, and earned several medals while playing with the Robinson’s and Pressey’s Boys’ bands. After finishing high school in 1940, the sixfoot-one grad became a stock manager at Woolworth’s on Front Street,
and then worked at Imperial Oil doing asbestos insulation and brick masonry. In July 1941, he enlisted in the RCAF and after extensive training in Canada earned his Air Observers Badge. The following October he headed to England, took additional training, and in May of 1943 became a Navigator with the No. 426 Thunderbird Squadron. Navigators were responsible for plotting a precise course for the planes to their target and back, which was difficult enough under normal conditions. But it was especially dangerous for Morris’ squadron, which took part in many night bombing raids over Germany. Nevertheless, Howard excelled at plotting out the sorties, and his superiors assessed the quiet
HOWARD MORRIS worked at Imperial Oil before he enlisted in the RCAF. Submitted Photo
Sarnian as “capable and efficient.” On Dec. 16, 1943, Morris and his plane were one of 483 Lancaster bombers participating on a night raid over Berlin. He laid out a course for Lancaster II DS779, and after it struck its target, Pilot R.D. Stewart followed Morris’ route back to Yorkshire 1,000 kilometres away. It was an uneventful trip but the Lancaster had been in the air for more than seven hours, which might accounted for what happened next. As the heavy, four-engine bomber approached the RAF base at Lintonon-Ouse it descended through darkness and heavy cloud cover but, through some fatal miscalculation, struck
the ground and plowed on for several hundred yards. Propellers snapped off along with the oil cooler, part of one rudder and other frame parts. Though it managed to get airborne again and clear some trees and high-tension wires the plane crashed a mile farther on and burst into flame. Howard Morris, Pilot R.D. Stewart and three other crewmembers died. Two survived but were seriously injured. The fateful telegram arrived in Sarnia days later, informing Lloyd and Marie Morris that their 22-year-son was killed in active service. Two weeks later a letter arrived from the Wing Commander of Squadron No. 426. “The news of Howard’s
death came as a severe blow to the members of this Squadron. He completed several operational sorties over enemy territory,” he wrote. “ (Howard had a) quiet and efficient manner with which he carried out his duties as a Navigator. Theresa Graham, his cousin, remembered the young man as “a genuinely nice person, with such an agreeable, friendly manner.” The boy who liked to build model airplanes at his Sarnia home is buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery in Yorkshire, England. His name is engraved on the Sarnia Cenotaph and on a plaque at Imperial Oil dedicated to the 24 company employees who died in the war.
We at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 46- Locals 1590/1494 would like to say
to all our current acting and past veterans for their services.
Ontario Council of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, DC 46 Windsor / Sarnia / London Local 1494 / 1590 Painters - Drywall Tapers - Glaziers
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Mayor Mike Bradley
and Sarnia City Council
Thursday, November 4, 2021
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Brothers fought at one of bloodiest battles in history TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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n 1916, Hector Cowan left SCITS at the age of 18 and signed up to fight in the First World War, two months after his older brother had enlisted. Hector became a sergeant in the 43rd Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery; brother Stewart was a 26-year-old lieutenant in the infantry. On Oct. 1, they both found themselves in France, near the banks of the Somme River. A staggering three million men fought the Battle of the Somme and more than one million were killed or wounded, making it one of the bloodiest in human history. Hector Cowan and his artillery unit were behind the front lines, unleashing shells on the enemy. Stewart Cowan and the 24th Battalion were right at the front, and that night he was killed while leading his platoon
over a parapet to attack German trenches near Courcelette, France. Back in Sarnia, John Cowan received a letter from his son on Oct. 22. Hector wrote that no doubt the news of Stewart’s death was a shock to everyone: “But to me, Dad, it was different. I knew Stew would fall sooner or later, the sooner the better for him; it’s the same
Sgt. Hector Cowan Submitted Photo
WE WILL REMEMBER
with all infantry men. They might get wounded, but it’s just a prolongation of the worst. It’s simply impossible to live through what they have to endure,” he said, going on to add: “I’ve been trying to locate Stewart’s grave through his regiment’s chaplain and I expect word any day from him. I’ll see that the grave is tended and fixed up to the best of my ability. I’ll also mark and locate it well,” he wrote. Despite best efforts of all involved, Stewart Cowan’s grave has never been found. Hector also reassured his father he was relatively safe because of his place in the artillery, not the infantry. And true to his word, Sergeant Cowan survived the war and returned to Sarnia in late January 1919. He not only survived, he thrived to become a prominent lawyer, family man and accomplished athlete. His nephew, John, remembers Hector as “a prankster who loved to laugh and to have fun.” After graduating from Osgoode Hall with a law degree in 1921, Hector Cowan set up a practice in Forest and in 1924 married Sarnian Lillian “Onnie” Hayes. By 1930, the couple had moved to Sarnia with children Joan and Anne, and for five years Hector practiced law with the Sarnia firm established by his father. The year 1935 was an important one for the Cowans. The family home at 536 Lakeshore Rd. was completed and Hector, 38, was named Crown Attorney for
Lambton County. He conducted himself with integrity and dignity, one peer noted, and Toronto Attorney-General Arthur Roebuck said he “quickly revealed a remarkable grasp of his duties.” Outside legal circles, people recognized “Hec” as a beloved and accomplished man who played all sports and games proficiently—whether it be golf, hockey, tennis, hunting or fishing. Perhaps his greatest sporting achievement was in curling. In February 1936, Cowan skipped his foursome to victory at the prestigious Ontario Tankard.
The original banner commemorating the feat has hung at the Sarnia Golf and Curling Club since November 1936. Unfortunately, he never lived to see the banner installed at his home club. Eight months after winning the provincial championship and twenty years after Stewart’s death, he was killed in a car accident in Detroit on Oct. 17, 1936. A soldier, family man, athlete, and lawyer held in high esteem by peers, Hec Cowan lived not a long life, but a full one. He is buried at Lakeview Cemetery.
AFTER THE WAR Hector Cowan, left, skipped Sarnia to victory at the Ontario Tankard, the annual provincial curling championship. Submitted Photo
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Allan brothers fell battling in brutal trench warfare
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TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
he writer H. G. Wells was born nearly three decades before Sarnians Arthur and James Allan, but outlived them by three decades. Shortly before Wells died in 1946 he warned, “If we don’t end war, war will end us.” His words came far too late for the Allan brothers. The family’s life in Sarnia began in 1893 when James and Florence Allan arrived from Palmerston, Ont. By the turn of the century they and their nine children lived at 382 Brock St. and were parishioners at Central United Church. The children probably attended Devine Street School, two blocks away. The senior Allan worked as a brakeman with the Grand Trunk Railway until he found a better-paying job as a stationary engineer in the local oil industry. Son Robert Allan, 22, succumbed to tuberculosis in August of 1915 and the following November, Arthur, 24,
Mount Sorrel only to fall and James, 27, headed three months later at the overseas together as Battle of the Somme. He soldiers with the 34th was last seen in a trench Battalion D Company. near Courcellette on Sept. The diminutive 27. brothers had dark hair Arthur’s remains were and blue eyes. They later recovered and he was worked as brakemen buried in France. James and enlisted in Sarnia was buried in Belgium. with the Canadian In Sarnia, Central Baptist Over-Seas ExpeditionChurch held a memorial ary Force. service that November The pair arrived in for the Allan brothers. France together on After acknowledging their May 26, 1916 and besupreme sacrifice, Pastor came members of the Mackay stated: “Only 7th Battalion, Canadian faith in the righteousness Army Infantry, British of our cause . . . and in Columbia Regiment. God, could lead men to And just days later endure what our men have they were marching endured and to meet so into Belgium to fight heroically every demand at the Battle of Mount made upon them.” Sorrel, where the Allies War is, according to were defending a hill overlooking the city of JAMES ALLAN, LEFT, and brother Arthur Allan, right, with an unidentified officer. H.G. Wells, a “curtain of Submitted Photo dense black fabric across Ypres. all the hopes and kindliThe Germans launched an artillery ness of mankind.” Over a though. More than 8,700 The 7th Battalion was barrage on June 2 that lasted century ago, James and Arthur Canadian men were killed, tasked with attacking enemy for 11 days. The brutal battle Allan were small threads in wounded or reported missing. that dark curtain. positions, and the Canadians was waged in heavy rain and Private James Allan who managed to reclaim the hill, constant shelling blew apart The names of both young had landed in France only two men are recorded on the Sardespite incessant rains, heavy trenches and reduced the landweeks before was killed on the nia Cenotaph. artillery bombardment and scape to a soggy mess pocked final day of fighting. lethal machine gun fire. with craters. His brother Arthur survived The cost was horrific,
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
By the numbers: WW1 took heavy toll on local families RANDY EVANS FOR THE JOURNAL
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ermany was a formidable enemy in the First World
War. By the end of the conflict, the industrial nation had brought to the fight 68,000 tons of poison gas, tens of thousands of machine guns firing up to 600 rounds per minute, and an estimated 275 million exploding artillery shells. Given such numbers it’s not surprising Canada suffered such heavy losses — 61,000 killed and 172,000 wounded. In Sarnia, the death of at least 121 men took a heavy toll on their families, friends and community. The youngest was Private Robert Batey, 15; the oldest Major Dr. David Bentley, 52. All but a handful of
Sarnia’s fallen had signed up for the army. Five served in the Air Corps, and Private David Smuck, though a member of the Army Medical Corps, died at sea when the Canadian Hospital Ship HMHS Llandovery Castle was torpedoed by a German submarine. The vast majority also died in combat; 13 fell to disease or war-related accidents. One Sarnia man, traumatized by the horrors around him, died by suicide by slitting his throat in a trench. The first Sarnian killed in the First World War was Private Roy Iliffe, 28, on April 22, 1915 at Ypres. He has no known grave. The last to die on foreign soil was Private Alfred Corrick, who succumbed to infection from gunshot wounds on Jan. 13, 1919, two months after the fighting ended. In total, 111 troops died
CANADIAN PRISONERS of war held at Bischofswerda, Saxony, Germany in 1915-16
On November 11, Imperial remembers We remember Imperial employees like Wallace Carman Horley who made the ultimate sacrifice. Before enlisting in the naval reserve in 1942, Wallace was a pipe fitter at the Sarnia refinery. In January 1944, he was assigned to the crew of the HMCS Alberni and served in the Battle of the Atlantic. On August 21, 1944, the ship was struck by a torpedo fired by a German submarine. Four officers and 55 crew members were lost in the attack, including Wallace. Later that month, Walter and Rachel Horley in Sarnia received a telegram informing them their 22-year old son was missing at sea. Four months later, Wallace was officially listed as missing and presumed dead.
Image courtesy M. I. Pirie, Canadian Great War Project
overseas. One of those who made it back to Canada was Private Frank Hickey, whose name appears on the Sarnia Cenotaph. He served 11 months in France but died at home of his war-related injuries on Sept. 1, 1919. Many local soldiers fell during major battles, including three at Ypres, 20 at the Somme, four at Vimy Ridge, and 33 during Canada’s Hundred Days, the name given to the war’s final offen-
sive, when the Canadian Corps played a pivotal role in victory. More than a century later, the remains of 42 brave Sarnians still have no known grave and lay beneath the soil of France and Belgium or the waters of the Atlantic. It’s said that generals die in bed. But it’s also true that 13 local officers perished on the front. The remains of three were never found, attesting to the fact they were killed with their men in the heat
of battle. War is an equal opportunity killer and bullets, shrapnel and poisons don’t care about a person’s station in life or whether they’re single or married. All of their deaths caused immeasurable loss and grief for their families, and 31 children back home were left without a father. With acknowledgment to Tom Slater and the Sarnia War Remembrance Project
We will always remember them
We will never forget. Special thanks to research by The Sarnia War Remembrance Project by Tom Slater, Tom St. Amand and Lou Giancarlo.
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Thursday, November 11th, 2021
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Flying officer heading home when his plane disappeared
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TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
t was a blustery day in Gander, Newfoundland on Oct. 19, 1943 and Jay Johnston, 21, was eager to get home to Sarnia. He’d told his father his leave from the RCAF would start that day and he’d see him shortly. The previous three years had been eventful ones for the young flyer: enlistment, training, and joining No. 10 squadron, based out of Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland. By that point of the Second World War German U-boats were a constant threat and the squadron used long-range “flying boats” to hunt for enemy submarines, provide reconnaissance, and protect vital shipping convoys. It was dangerous work. Two weeks earlier Johnston, a Flying Officer and both a wireless operator and air gunner, was
part of a five-man crew that sank a surfaced U-boat in the mid-Atlantic. That same crew was now waiting at Gander Airport, where all flights had been grounded by bad weather. The plan was to board a B-24 Consolidated Liberator aircraft bound for Mont-Joli, Quebec, and from there Johnston would continue on to Sarnia. He must have felt relief when the Liberator finally lifted of with a crew of six and 18 passengers - all members of the RCAF starting some time off. Those waiting for him in Sarnia included his widowed father John, who worked as a school custodian, and sister Eloise, who was about married the following month. Her fiancée, Sarnia’s Mike Paithowski, 26, had enlisted with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Their mother had died when Johnston was in high school, and brother Roberts was overseas with an infantry unit of the
Royal Canadian Engineers. But Jay Johnston never saw his family again. As their plane approached Mont-Joli the crew learned heavy snow had closed the airport. The Liberator turned for Dorval Airfield near Montreal. The Liberator should have arrived by 3:45 a.m. but air controllers there lost contact. In Sarnia, the Johnstons awaited news. A few days later, the heartbreaking telegram arrived with word Jay Johnston was “missing after air operations.” The Canadian Air Force made 700 sorties over the next five weeks but found no trace of the missing plane. In late November, authorities called off the search, certain the plane was at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River. With Jay missing and presumed dead, life did not get easier for the Johnston family. Though Eloise married, her husband died when his ship was torpedoed on Nov. 24, 1944, almost a year after their wedding. Mike Paithowski left behind Eloise and their three-month-old son. Robert Johnston returned from the war but, according to a relative, was never the same. The following year, father John Johnston was told by the Air Force his son had been officially declared dead, and in April of 1946 he received a Wartime Service Gratuity of $651.13 for his loss.
THESE RCAF crew members, including Flying Officer Jay Johnston of Sarnia, upper left, were heading home on leave when their plane disappeared, just weeks after successfully attacking a marauding U-boat in the Atlantic. RCAF Photo
Then, two months later, news arrived in Sarnia the missing
Liberator had been found. Continued on page 11
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Horrific crash was worst in Canadian military history TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
Continued from page 10
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n June 26, 1946, a pilot on an aerial search for a different plane that was missing spotted charred wreckage near the top of Black Mountain in the Laurentians. The nearest community was St. Donat, Quebec, a village 150 kilometres northwest of Dorval.
One can only hope the airplane’s discovery and subsequent burial provided some closure for the family. That same day, a search party blazed a trail through the rugged terrain and found the bodies of 24 RCAF men inside the burnt wreckage. Experts speculated a mix of snow, rain and fog combined with a mapping error and improperly calibrated altimeter had contributed to the crash. It
was the worst aviation accident in Canadian military history. Because only three bodies could be identified and the terrain was rugged and remote, authorities decided to bury the remains of the fallen at the crash site. On July 3, 1946, friends and family of the crew and passengers attended the funeral and burial near the Black Mountain crash site. Services were conducted in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths and a simple white cross erected for each airman. Jay Johnston was gone but not forgotten. He was mentioned posthumously in dispatches in connection with the King’s birthday honours list. He had earned the award while serving as a radio operator and gunner, the only Sarnian mentioned among several hundred Canadian servicemen listed. THE 1943 Saint-Donat crash site monument and graves, taken from an observation tower. One can only hope the Simon Mercier Photo airplane’s discovery and subsequent burial provided some closure for the family. name is inscribed on the SarIn 1985 the Commonwealth Cairn remains at the crash site, ers can find remnants of the along with scattered pieces of aircraft, plaques detailing the nia cenotaph as J. S. Johnston. War Graves Commission the Liberator. accident, and a monument ordered the men’s remains Today, an 11-kilometre trail honouring the victims. moved to the parish cemeleads to the site, where hikIn Sarnia, Jay Johnston’s tery in St. Donat. A Memorial
We shall remember the Men and Women who have sacrificed for our freedom.
Constituency Office: 805 Christina St. North Suite 102 • Point Edward www.bobbaileympp.com Tel: (519) 337-0051 Email: bob.baileyco@pc.ola.org
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We the m will never COUR
Remembering and Ho
Thursday, November 4, 2021
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members of UA Local 663 r forget the sacrifice of our RAGEOUS VETERANS. Supporter of
onouring our Heroes
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Sarnia’s namesake ship set war mine-clearing record TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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hen the residents of Sarnia learned in July of 1942 that a warship was being named for the city they proudly adopted her as their own. Groups of citizens and dignitaries attended the commissioning HMCS Sarnia in Toronto the next month bearing gifts for the crew and officers. And when the new minesweeper joined the Newfoundland Task Force in September, city council announced two more: a crest of the city to hang in the commander’s cabin and a large washing machine for the 83 men on board. In fact, Sarnians never stopped sending gifts to make the sailors’ lives more comfortable: scarfs, gloves, soap, cigarettes and cigars, chocolate and baked goods. And when
Ship logo
the officers mentioned the crew could use hot plates and electric irons, the local HMCS Sarnia committee promised to do its best. In reality, the crew lived in tight quarters and took on dangerous assignments in bone-chilling temperatures. They welcomed any comforts from home to tolerate the unpredictable weather while escorting ships and clearing mines. As one officer aboard the
Sarnia put it: “On convoy duty … I had the pleasure of being frozen to death in the North Atlantic.” Clearing mines was painstaking and hazardous, especially in turbulent waters. It wasn’t unusual for the Sarnia to sweep up to twelve or fifteen mines in a single patrol. During the process, “You could THE HMCS SARNIA, as she appeared in October of 1943. cut the tension on the ship with Photo courtesy, Department of National Defence, J-309 a knife,” noted Petty Officer Liam Dwyer. whirlwind 48 hours dignitaries the Sarnia never forgot the They did an exceptional job. and residents treated them bleak rescue scene. Lieut. MosIn fact, the Sarnia cleared more to a sightseeing tour, formal sop, the Sarnia’s commander, mines from waters off the East- dinners, and large parties. visited Sarnia after the war and ern seaboard of North America The crew’s mettle was tested described how his men saved than any other ship, Canadian again just three weeks before several of the Esquimalt’s men, or American. the war’s end. In March 1945 hauled them from the ocean During the Second World the Sarnia was assigned with and applying artificial respiraWar, more than 300 other minesweepers to the tion. They also brought aboard ships were named after Halifax Defence Force to hunt the bodies of 13 dead. Canadian communifor German U-boats suspectIt was another example, ties. But the relationMossop told his audience, of ed to be lurking in Halifax ship Sarnia forged with Harbour. the ship upholding “Sarnia the men aboard HMCS traditions to the highest.” In the early morning of Sarnia was something The men who served on April 16 the submarine U-190 special. HMCS Sarnia never forgot the torpedoed Sarnia’s sister ship, To acknowledge the HMCS Esquimalt. She sank in sacrifice and generosity of the support, the officers four minutes, taking 28 men to community. and crew donated two For three years, when most their deaths. photographs of the needed, Sarnians did their best Forty-three survivors clung ship to the city. And to help the officers and crew to floats in the icy Atlantic. in September 1944, perform their duties at the While the arriving Sarnia while the ship was highest level. managed to pull 27 of them being refitted in Nova from the water alive the others Scotia, four crewmem- perished from exposure. bers visited Sarnia for Many crewmembers aboard two days. During the Continued on page 15
“Thank-you” veterans and current military personnel, for the precious “gift of freedom”, to all Canadians. We are forever indebted. Blessed are the led, in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord, day by day. His precepts and statutes they faithfully keep, Unashamed, His commandments they diligently seek. Bible in hand, our fore-fathers, settled this “great” land, Fearing God, our constitution re ected, their stand. Prayer and God’s Word, guided our courts and school, Respect and humility, governed their rule. Have we become so morally insensitive, we can’t discern the way? Do the gods of materialism, egotism and power, rule the day? Have we deceived our next generation, being politically correct? Are the statistics of divorce and suicide, the future’s effect? Life has many choices, but eternity only two, Who will you be found serving, when your life, is thru. You see, “repentance” is required, for you and for me, Bringing Jesus unending “forgiveness”,to set us free. If we “humble” ourselves and “pray”, God promises to heal our land, His righteousness exalts a Nation, with one accord, we will stand. So we say, “God Bless Canada” and earnestly pray, Forever, your mercy endures Lord, change our hearts to-day. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
PRAYER:
Dear Lord Jesus, “thank-you” for the price that you paid for me. Because of the sin in my life, I find myself separated from you. I ask for your forgiveness and invite you into my heart, to be Lord of all the areas of my life. Thank-you for the “gift” of salvation and the assurance of an eternal home in Heaven with you. Amen
Grogan, Watford
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 530 would like you to join us and our members as we commemorate Remembrance Day on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year.
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HMCS Sarnia lives on through legend and artifacts TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
Continued on from 14
T
he HMCS Sarnia was decommissioned in 1945 and later transferred to the Turkish Navy where, until 1972, she served as a patrol boat, the Buyukdere. When Lieut. Mossop visited Sarnia after the war he presented the city with the nameplate from the deck of the ship, along with the ship’s ensign. The minesweeper’s bell is still maintained, in trust, by the local Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps HMC. Repulse. Beginning in 1995, crewmembers held reunions to recognize the 50th anniversary of the dramatic sea rescue and rekindle friendships forged in war. Lou Howard, a former Navigation Officer aboard HMCS Sarnia, visited Sarnia in 2010 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy. The 86-year-old veteran presented Mayor Mike Bradley and the city with a commemorative
plaque honouring Sarnia and its minesweeper. Included with the plaque, which hangs at City Hall, was a photo of the ship. Later, Howard and Bradley and a few others stood on the shore of the St. Clair River, where the visitor became emotional. Over lunch, a tearyeyed Howard described the vital role the Sarnia played in rescuing the sailors of the Esquimalt. Though 65 years had passed, he remembered every detail. In 2017, Howard was in St. John’s, Newfoundland where he donated the pennant from the HMCS Sarnia to the Crow’s Nest, a unique national historic site that houses hundreds of original maritime artifacts from the Second World War. Founded in 1942 as a gathering place for seagoing officers, the Crow’s Nest is a veritable time capsule of the 1940s when Canada and Newfoundland fought Germany in the Battle of the Atlantic. Today, the triangular pennant of HMCS Sarnia hangs at The Crow’s Nest, not far away from the periscope of the German sub U-190.
WE SHALL NOT FORGET
SURVIVORS OF the minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt are helped off the deck of the HMCA Sarnia in Halifax after the Esquimalt was torpedoed by the German submarine U-190 on 16 Apr 1945. Source: Lt Richard G. Arless / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-157021
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Many local families suffered long after fighting ended RANDY EVANS FOR THE JOURNAL
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he First World War was a cruel conflict and its repercussions were felt for decades among some Sarnia families. Margaret Reid of Dundas Street, for example, lost husband Pvt. George Reid on Oct. 5, 1915. Almost three years later her brother Pvt. Cameron Bissett was killed at Amiens, with no known grave. Maud Guertin, who lived on Maxwell Street, also suffered the loss of her husband and brother. Husband Percival Guertin and brother Urban Noel were each killed in action. And though two of her brothers-in-law survived they came home wounded from the war. The Knowles family on London Road received notice in April of 1918 that one of their sons had been killed and another wounded. Five
CANADIAN NURSING SISTERS tend to wounded soldiers in a hospital during the First World War. Photo courtesy, Library and Archives Canada
months later came word that another family member, Lt. John Knowles, was in a hospital, paralyzed, with wounds to
At Praill’s, we take this Day to
his face and legs. The Cunningham, Nash and Lumley families suffered the sad fate of losing a son, and their siblings coming home injured. The James Ross family on Emma Street sent four sons to the battlegrounds of Europe. After the eldest William was maimed, second son Peter was reported as “dangerously wounded” but did survive. James was medically discharged as a result of gunshot wounds to both legs and forehead, and the youngest Edward returned home gassed, burned, with wounds to the left leg and head. Another four lo-
cal families – the Allans, MAXWELL STREET RESIDENT Crawfords, Simmons and Maud Guertin, seen with with son Timpsons – contended Francis Alexander, lost her husband with multiple sons and and her brother to the war. husbands not returning Submitted Photo home. It’s estimated 172,000 Canadians were physically tribute to those who paid the wounded or shell-shocked ultimate sacrifice. during combat in the First And while we remember World War. Those soldiers did those from the First World not return to Canadian soil in War whose names are enone piece, either physically or graved on the Sarnia Cenomentally. And not all of them taph, let us also remember recovered from their injuries. those whose names are not reThe cost of The Great War corded there: Pvt. Ivan Collins, in grief and pain and mental Cpt. Dr. Walter W. McKenzie anguish continued long after and Pvt. John D.B. Rae. the Armistice for individual Lest we forget. soldiers, their families and the Sarnia community as a whole. With acknowledgment to On Nov. 11, local residents Tom Slater and the Sarnia gather to remember all vetWar Remembrance Project. erans with gratitude and pay
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On behalf of the over 1000 members and staff of LiUNA 1089, Thank you to all who served.
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Headline-making flying ace wouldn’t talk about the war TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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arry Dowding emerged from the Second World War as one of Sarnia’s most accomplished and decorated military heroes. But he rarely discussed his involvement, so his story can never fully be told. Born in 1921, Harry was the older son of Ivan and Rhea Dowding. The family lived on John Street, and Harry and younger brother Jack attended Devine Street School and SCITS. Harry was 20 when he enlisted in the RCAF in March of 1941 and after extensive training was called overseas. From June 1942 to October 1943 he was a pilot and instructor
Harry Dowding
with the No. 403 Wolf Squadron. His squadron flew Spitfires, the iconic single-seat fighter-interceptor that combined speed, maneuverability and firepower.
Submitted Photo
Harry Dowding’s exploits in the sky made headlines in Europe. He was one of two Spitfire
We will Remember Them
pilots that attacked and stopped a Nazi freight engine during a low-level sweep across France in March 1943. Two months later, while escorting Allied bombers on a daytime raid in northern France, he destroyed a German Messerschmitt, and with two other fighters brought down one Focke-Wulf and damaged a second. That September, he flew within 200 feet of a German plane to send it down in flames. That same month, he was one of three Canadian fighter pilots that each shot down a German plane while escorting bombers attacking a railway yard
at Abbeville, France. And on June 7, one day after D-Day, he became the first Allied airman to make a “both-wheelsdown-landing” in occupied France. What happened reads like a Hollywood film script. When enemy anti-aircraft fire struck his Spitfire the flak ripped through the fuselage between his legs and tore holes in the roof, narrowly missing his head. Bullets punctured the fuel tanks, spraying gasoline into the cockpit as he desperately searched for a place to land. Another Allied pilot flew on ahead and strafed a farmer’s field
with warning shots in an attempt to clear it of people, equipment and animals so Dowding could put down on the improvised runway. Though he managed to land the plane on the ground a farmer, a suspected German sympathizer, pushed a cart directly into its path. The Spitfire hit the cart and burst into flame. However, members of the French Resistance managed to pull Dowding from the cockpit, and later arrange his passage back to England before German soldiers could find him. Continued on page 19
A 403 SQUADRON Spitfire, somewhere in France.
Submitted Photo
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Continued from page 10
Undaunted by that brush with death, he returned to the skies again and downed two more Messerschmitts in June, lifting his total to six kills. That made Harry Dowding an official “flying ace” for having shot down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat. He returned to Canada after his tour of operations ended in October 1944, and left the RCAF the following February with a remarkable record: 220 operational sorties and credited with at least six enemy planes destroyed and two damaged. He had already received the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross in 1942, and was later awarded the Bar to Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he settled back in Sarnia, married Joyce Stark, was father to three children, and became president of Mueller Brass, one the city’s leading industries. But Harry Dowding rarely mentioned the war and never attended local Remembrance Day ceremonies or squadron reunions. His attitude was: “I served my country. I just want to put it behind me,” his son Jeff said. His mother said her son’s reluctance to talk about it stemmed from his “bad memories about the war.” Sarnia’s Harry Dowding became an ace fighter pilot and one of the city’s most decorated soldiers in the Second World War. And when he died in 2003 he took many personal stories of his military accomplishments to the grave.
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Death of younger brother left family devastated TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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hen he was 16, Jack Dowding did something he’d wanted to do for eight months. He left SCITS halfway through Grade 11 and lied about his age to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He told a recruitment officer he wanted to “follow in his brother’s footsteps.” Older brother Harry had enlisted two years earlier, in 1941, and was a highly decorated fighter pilot in England. Ivan and Rhea Dowding were opposed to their son’s decision. But the teen was determined to do his part in the war, and after nearly a year of training as an Air Gunner he got his wish and headed to England in July 1944.
Jack Dowding
Submitted Photo
Jack and his brother Harry hadn’t seen each other in three years, but enjoyed a weekend leave together before Jack took
further training. They would never see each other again. While Harry returned to Fighter Command in France, Jack headed to an operational training unit in Scotland. For the next ten weeks he trained as an Air Gunner in Bomber Command. His interest was “keen” and his airwork “steady and confident,” instructors noted. There is no easy way to learn to fly a heavy bomber and the novice crews were training in out- A TWIN-ENGINE WHITLEY bomber, seen here circa 1940, were unreliable and dated, battle-scarred earned the nickname “flying coffin.” two engine Whitleys, Photo courtesy, RAF - RAF website planes so prone to mechanical failure they’d earned the tion absolved anyone of blame decades slipped by. If someone nickname “Flying Coffin.” asked about his brother, Harry for the air disaster but noted On Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1944, would tersely reply, “He died in that a violent electrical storm Jack’s crew was doing its fifth was moving through the area at the war” and invite no further night training flight. Visibility discussion. the time of the crash. was 23 kilometres in condiIn 1952, Harry Dowding and On Friday, Oct. 20, at their tions described as clear to wife Joyce named their firsthome on John Street in Sarfair, with breaks in the storm nia, Ivan and Rhea Dowding born son Jack in his late uncle’s clouds. As their plane lifted off received a heartbreaking telehonour. at 7:06 p.m. for a solo five-hour gram from Ottawa with word Rhea often cried when asked flight, distant lightning flashes Jack had been “killed on active about her younger son, and unpunctured the night sky. service overseas.” His funertil her death in 1987 kept Jack’s The cause of the crash photo on a bedside table. al was held with full service remains unsolved to this day. Jack Dowding, 18, was the honours and military officers Observers and investigators youngest Sarnian to die in the present, and he was buried confirmed that around 9:30 Second World War. in Harrogate R.A.F. Regional p.m. Dowding’s plane disinteInscribed on his gravestone Cemetery in England. grated in mid-air. Pieces of it are the words: He Challenged Harry returned home a war crashed about five kilometres Those Who Would Destroy The hero, but neither he nor his from the North Sea with the Innocent And The Way Of Life parents spoke much about wreckage scattered over a large Jack. The memories were too He Loved So Well. area around Slingsby Farm raw, too painful even as the in County Durham, England. 3 YEARS STRO All six crewmembers NG VER O perished from horrific injuries but, mercifully, their deaths were quick. An official investiga-
Remembering Our
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Airmen jumped from burning plane, landed in Germany TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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Point Edward -Warrant Officer Eiler Villy Andersen. “Andy,” as he was known, was on just his fourth mission when spears of light from powerful searchlights pierced the night sky and flak exploded all around the squadrons of Allied
s the British bomber approached Hagen, Germany on March 15, 1945, what had been a routine flight turned chaotic. The aircraft, known as “Moonlight Mermaid,” was famous among airmen for its nose art - a pin-up girl reclining on a crescent moon. The plane was on its 81st mission in nine months, an astonishing number given the inherent danger of bombing runs. The wireless operator aboard “Moonlight Mermaid” that clear Thursday evening was a 22-year-old from Eiler “Andy” Andersen
aircraft. And then the improbable happened. Shortly after “Moonlight Mermaid” had released its payload a high-flying bomber from the same squadron dropped an incendiary bomb that struck the Halifax. Fire spread quickly in the cockpit, and with his aircraft losing altitude pilot Stewart Bonter yelled, “Abandon Aircraft!” Four men, including Andy, parachuted. The “Moonlight Mermaid,” engulfed in flame, continued on for seven or eight kilometres until it crashed near Dusseldorf at 8:45 p.m. Bonter and two other men perished in the crash. Only after the war ended did authorities learn that four crewmembers had bailed out. Each of the survivors landed in enemy territory, alone and on their own. Sgt. Thomas Scott was caught the next day and executed in cold blood by the Hagen Gestapo. Two others were caught within days and imprisoned until the war’s end. “Andy” Andersen
THE ILL-FATED CREW, with Point Edward’s Eiler “Andy” Andersen, centre. Submitted Photo
was also captured by the Germans shortly after he landed. Now a prisoner,
he had time to reflect: On his Danish parents who had immigrated to Canada in the late 1920s; on his childhood in Point Edward and graduation from SCITS; on enlisting and meeting the lovely Maureen Clarke during RCAF training in Manitoba; and on their marriage and first child, Gail, who was born
before he headed overseas. The toddler turned two on March 15th; the very day he narrowly escaped death. Maureen had given him a shamrock for good luck and protection, and throughout the war it never left his side. Back in Canada, the authorities notified the family that the “Moonlight Mermaid” and its crew were missing. All they could do was wait and pray.
Continued on page 21 LEST WE FORGET
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Plane found, family invited to service
Continued on from 20
On the 18th of May, Maureen Andersen received a telegram in Winnipeg from her husband with joyous news: “REPATRIATED TO ENGLAND PRISONER OF WAR RCAF OVERSEAS AM WELL AND FIT ALL MY LOVE.” That October, Andy was discharged and the couple moved to Sarnia. They had five more children and several grandchildren, and Andy worked a number of jobs to support his growing family: a delivery man, car salesman, real estate agent, and the owner of Andy’s Variety, a convenience store. He loved watching college football on TV, doing crossword puzzles and visiting the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day. But Andy, a humble man who didn’t like talking about himself, rarely mentioned the war and, in particular, the final flight of the “Moonlight Mermaid.”
Humane Society releases war pins
T
he Ontario SPCA and Humane Society has released a new commemorate “Animals in War” pin to honour the wartime contributions of animals. The sale of each pin provides a $1 donation to Royal Canadian Legion branches to support veterans as well as care for animals in need. Mules carried artillery, horses transported troops and hauled field guns, pigeons delivered crucial messages, cats served as companions and kept ships free of vermin, and dogs have served as messengers, medical assistants, bomb detectors and search and rescue workers, the SPCA said. This year’s pin features a cat. Pins are available at ontariospca.ca/ AnimalsInWar or by calling 1-888668-7722, ext. 360.
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TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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hen Eiler “Andy” Andersen died in 1997 he knew the head of the Hagen Gestapo had been hanged in 1947 for the execution of Thomas Scott. He also knew Scott and his crewmates who died in the plane crash were buried in a British Military Cemetery in Germany. But the final resting place of the famed bomber had always been a mystery. Finally, two decades after his death, three German archaeologists found pieces of Halifax NP689 scattered 30 centimetres underground in a bucolic meadow near Dusseldorf. They obtained names and their search for remaining family members led them to Lori Williams in Burlington, Ont. For Lori, Gail’s daughter, her grandfather, lovingly called “Papa,” was a hero. “He was the kindest person I have ever known. I also knew he had been in the war and he always treated me as the most important person in the world,” she said. After Andy passed away, Lori’s mission was to keep her grandfather’s memory alive. She spent years on the Internet looking for
THE AIRCRAFT HALIFAX NP689, better known as the Moonlight Mermaid, was downed by an Allied bomb. Submitted Photo
any information about his squadron and crewmates. Fortunately, one of the German archaeologists found her name and email on an Internet forum. They invited Williams and other family members to a memorial service on March 15, 2020 - 75 years after the bomber crashed. Lori and husband Clint made the trip, but the pandemic prevented her two cousins in Sarnia from travelling to Germany. In the end, the commemorative service was cancelled, but the couple met the archaeologists, visited the final resting place of “Moonlight Mermaid”, and paid their respects
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Following the parade, all are welcome to an Open House at 900 Devine St., Sarnia
WE REMEMBER
to the crew members at Reichswald Forest British Military Cemetery. Williams said the time in Germany allowed her to reflect “about all that my
Papa went through at such a young age.” It was a special trip, one she plans to make again.
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
Canadian initiative provides dolls to war-stricken kids tours in the embattled countries of Kuwait and Croatia. And he was especially moved few days after his by children caught son Brent was in lethal crossfire killed in Afghanor killed by land istan in April 2007, mines. The lucky Camlachie’s Don Poland ones survived, received a call from Brian but often without Isfeld. parents, limbs, or It was a “father to possessions. father” conversation, for Isfeld’s life Isfeld also had lost a son changed one day overseas during a peacedriving through keeping mission. Through a Croatian village him, Poland learned in 1993. Artillery about Mark Isfeld and the shells had flattened Izzy Doll. a house and atop The story of the Izzy the debris lay a AN IZZY DOLL Doll began three decades small unmoving The Canadian Military Engineers figure in a blue top. ago in a village in warAssociation Photo torn Croatia. British Fearing the worst Columbian Mark “Izzy” as he neared the Isfeld was a Master Corfigure, Isfeld was and IEDs (Improvised poral with the Royal Carelieved to see it wasn’t a Explosive Devices). nadian Engineers, tasked child, but an abandoned He had witnessed with clearing and defusdoll. He took a photo, but war’s devastating impact ing land mines, bombs never forgot the doll. during peacekeeping While home on leave that Christmas, Mark showed the photo to his mother Carol, and said, “Some little girl has lost her doll, and a doll has lost her little girl.” Moved by her son’s compassion, Carol got to work. When Mark returned to Croatia for his third peacekeeping mission a package from home awaited him. It contained 22 woollen dolls, each stuffed with cotton batting and about 12 centimetres (five inches) in length, perfect TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
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for fitting inside uniform pockets. Carol asked her son to give them to children who needed consoling. And Isfeld did so. His section commander noted: “Mark collected little hearts, he collected little smiles, and he collected little handshakes.” Just months later near the village of Kakma, Croatia, Mark Isfeld, 31, was killed by a roadside bomb. His life had ended on June 21, 1994, but his legacy did not. Fellow soldiers asked Carol Isfeld if she would continue making the dolls so they could give them to children in Mark’s memory. The regiment even had a name for them: “Izzy Dolls.” She recruited other women in her community and for the next decade they continued to make Izzy Dolls for Canadian engineers and other peacekeepers, wherever they were deployed. Carol Isfeld eventually put the pattern for the Izzy Doll on the Internet, but obtained a copyright for the name and the pattern, so Izzy Dolls could be given only for charity and never for profit. The grassroots movement expanded, and pockets of volunteers across Canada have made more than 1.3 million Izzy Dolls over the past
We Will Remember Them
Don Poland
two decades. Corporal Brent Poland’s death on Easter Sunday of 2007 left many grief stricken. Lorena Macklin, who knew Brent’s parents Don and Pat Poland, wanted to “help in any way I could.” Don told her about the Izzy Dolls and Macklin obtained the pattern and started knitting. Word soon spread and individual volunteers and church groups eager to honour Brent Poland’s memory began making Izzy Dolls and giving them to
Macklin. The following June, Don and Pat Poland brought the dolls to a Toronto depot from where they would be shipped to Afghanistan. “(The) Honda Accord was stuffed with bags of dolls. People at the depot said it was one of the largest donations they had ever received,” Don Poland recalled. Mark Isfeld’s life and death were like the dolls he inspired: their impact was significant; their value immeasurable.
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Recruiters turned a blind eye to underage enlistees RANDY EVANS FOR THE JOURNAL
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n the early stages of the First World War, Canadian recruiters adhered to military regulations requiring soldiers to be a minimum age of 18 (later 19). But following heavy carnages at Ypres and on the Somme the strict age rule was supplanted by the military’s need for additional manpower. War historian Tim Cook estimates as many as 20,000 underage Canadian soldiers saw duty during that war. One of them, William Henry Hutchinson, actually served five months in France with the Cana-
dian Railway Troops at the age of 12. War hype no doubt prompted some to enlist, but the economic realities of the day were another factor. Many young enrollees were not in school but working at difficult and low-paying jobs. In contrast, three square meals and $1.10 a day in the pocket of a snazzy looking uniform would look attractive. Alfred Manning of Victoria Street in Point Edward was just 16 and stood five-foot-one in height, but successfully joined the ranks in Sarnia in January of 1916. He kept up the charade for 14 months and managed to get to France, where he eventually turned
himself in and was discharged as underage. Kenneth Bissell, of RR2 Sarnia, was also 16 years when he deceived recruiters in London in June of 1917. After nine months in uniform, all served in Canada, he turned himself in and was discharged. At least they survived. Sadly, at least two local underage soldiers are known to have died. They didn’t join the army as a result of complicity on the part of recruiters, but were allowed in by ill-advised parental consent. Robert Batey enlisted as a 14-year-old and was killed at the age of 15, with no known grave. Baden Powell Pickell, of Thedford, enlisted with
his mother’s consent at 16 year and headed overseas to Europe. He survived two years of fighting major battles, but his luck ran out in the trenches at Arras in September 1918 after receiving shell shrapnel in the head. Because he didn’t die in the midst of battle military brass regarded his death as “wastage.” The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirms the deaths of 385 under-aged soldiers in the First World War. But with enlistment papers full of false birthdates, the real number may never be known.
One of Sarnia’s bravest soldiers died in key WW1 battle
S
TOM SLATER & TOM ST. AMAND FOR THE JOURNAL
arnia’s Royal “Roy” Crawford arrived in France with the Canadian 1st Battalion and a heavy heart. His father Roy had drowned in the St. Clair River the previous summer, leaving mother Lomila a widow with seven children. Shortly after Roy enlisted, so did two of his brothers. But when Roy reached France on Sept. 22, 1916 he learned that big brother Rob, 29, had been shot and killed 10 days earlier at the Battle of the Somme. Sorrow notwithstanding, the 19-year-old was eager for action. He’d reverted to the rank of Private at his own request just two weeks earlier so he could get to the front quicker. Over the next two years Roy Crawford exemplified the ideals of bravery, heroism, and leadership on the battlefield. Soon he was promoted to Lance Corporal, continued to fight and excel, and on Nov. 1,
1917 became a Corporal, then Lance Sergeant, and rising to the rank of Sergeant on Dec. 1.
Royal Crawford
That same month he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery for his bold action at the Battle of Passchendaele. When his commanding officer died early during an attack, Crawford immediately assumed command of the platoon and under his leadership
they reached their objective. Despite being wounded in battle, “his courage and skill assisted greatly in keeping up the spirit of the men,” a fellow officer reported. Recognizing a leader when they saw one, Crawford’s superiors recommended him for a commission, and early in 1918 he returned to England for senior officer training. He emerged a Lieutenant, and by Sept. 27 was back in France. Crawford had arrived just in time for the Battle of Canal-du-Nord and Cambrai, part of a major offensive during the Hundred Days Campaign that forced the German Army into retreat and led to the end of the First World War. Against overwhelming odds and a desperate enemy, Canadian troops fought a series of brutal engagements over a two-week period. Channelling through a narrow gap in the canal, they punched through a series of fortified villages and deep interlocking trenches to capture Bourlon Wood and the City of Cambrai.
It was a major Allied victory, but it left 14,000 Canadians dead and wounded. As one historian noted: “German machine-gunners proved to be the Canadians’ nemesis through the last half of the 100 days.”
Robert Crawford
Lieutenant Roy Crawford’s 1st Division suffered more than 1,000 casualties on Oct. 1 alone. He was fatally injured himself when his platoon confronted the enemy near the
French villages of Blecourt and Sancourt and machine gun fire lacerated his stomach and lung. News of his death hadn’t yet reached Sarnia when The Observer ran an article in mid-October about the two Crawford boys. The story described how Roy was doing his city proud while Robert had made the supreme sacrifice. “His mother received [Roy’s] Military Medal a few days ago and is justly proud of the honour her son has brought on her home,” it read. A few days later, Lomila received a telegram stating Roy had been wounded Oct. 1 and was missing. Within a week, a second telegram confirmed the war had stolen a second son from her, two years after the first. Royal Crawford, 21, is remembered today as one of Sarnia’s bravest fallen soldiers. He is buried in Sancourt British Cemetery, Nord, France. His headstone is inscribed with the same words as brother Robert’s: HE DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
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Thursday, November 4, 2021
The Staff and Members of Carpenters’ Local 1256 thank our Veterans as well as the men and women of the Canadian Armed forces for everything they have done to keep us safe
CANADIANS ARE CELEBRATING THE 76th ANNIVERSARY ~ ENDING OF WWII
THANK YOU “YOU ARE OUR HEROES”