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November 2015
A Tale of Two Veterans: Greenwood and Kirby Community Personality Chris Stringer
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inety-year-old Harry Greenwood was born in Thornliebank, Scotland. At 16 he joined the Sea Cadets in Glasgow and became proficient in all aspects of visual signals, including morse code, enabling him to join the Royal Navy in 1942 at the age of 17. After completing further training as a signalman, he was drafted to the deep sea rescue tug, HMS Stormking and, in 1943, was assigned to HMS Jaunty. The rescue tugs escorted convoys, and towed ships that had been severely crippled, but not sunk, by U-boats, to the nearest point of land. They were the workhorses of the fleet. The Jaunty was assigned to support and prepare for the June 1944 D-Day landings and perform rescue missions. “It was chaos on that day and we survived when many others did not,” says Harry. “We stayed until November, performing clean-up operations before returning to North Atlantic escort and rescue missions.” After VE Day the Jaunty was sent to South East Asia to support the British presence in this unsettled part of the world. Following this, Harry Greenwood received his service discharge and he returned to Glasgow to work on his undergraduate degree before immigrating to Canada in 1951. Harry gained distinction in newspaper publishing in Hamilton, Ontario, where he edited the award-winning Steelworker’s
newspaper from the 60s to the 80s, and served on the Mohawk College board. It was in Hamilton that Harry met Rose Marie whom he married 56 years ago. In 1992, after retiring, Harry and Rose Marie moved to Squamish, where Harry served on Capilano College’s Squamish Advisory Board. After moving to West Vancouver in 1999, he joined the West Vancouver Memorial Library foundation board where he served as chairman for two years. He now serves as Chairman of the Royal Canadian Legion.
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orm Kirby was born 90 years ago in New Westminster, British Columbia, and was raised on the North Shore from the age of 6. He joined the Canadian army at 18 and was sent to Alberta for combat training as a Bren gunner (British machine gun), finding himself on his way to Europe in May 1944 to participate in the DDay landings. “I didn’t see any action,” says Norm, “because my ship was sunk before we landed in Normandy.” A month later Norm was taking part in the attack on La Trésorerie in Normandy. “I was in a bomb crater with my loader and Gabby Wilson, also from North Vancouver. Our job was to prevent Germans from getting from their fortress to the anti-aircraft guns that were less than 100 yards from us. We kept them off until dusk, when a couple got through and turned the big guns on us, killing my loader. Gabby and I hid until dark when we found our way back to company headquarters.” Norm saw considerable action in Nor-
Norman Kirby (top right) during the liberation of Holland.
Photo: Courtesy of Norman Kirby
mandy, Belgium, and Holland, where he was part of the liberation of Holland, and was in Germany on VE Day. He had the distinction of rising from corporal to become the Canadian military’s youngest combat platoon sergeant in WWII. Upon returning to Vancouver after the war, Norm worked in a saw mill, and for Cates Tugs and got his Captain’s papers, sold real estate, was the Gulf Oil agent in Powell River and, before retirement, was regional
manager for the Shon Group. Norm has lived on the waterfront in his beloved Lions Bay for 40 years where he is a boater. Every Remembrance Day he delivers a speech at the community’s village hall. Norm and Harry, on behalf of our readers, we at The Beacon thank you, and all our esteemed veterans, for your courage, as well as your continued contributions to our community.
Photo: Glenn Owen Harry Greenwood and Norman Kirby at the West Vancouver Memorial Cenotaph. Both have the distinction of being awarded the French Legion of Honour medal.
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Marsh Harry Greenwood attending the 75th anniversary celebrations honouring D-Day veterans in Europe.