It was a complete surprise but very pleasant surprise when unannounced Spr. Wesley McIntyre arrived home at 156 Lacroix St. Spr. McIntyre had been in England for three years. He was on ‘compassionate leave’  and would have to report to London in a month but it was unlikely he would return to England.   

Wesley was one of a party of three Chatham/Kent men who disembarked from a hospital ship that arrived in Halifax with 700 men aboard all anxious to get home. Having enlisted in 1940 with the Royal Canadian Engineers, he completed eight months of training in Canada before proceeding to England where he spent the remainder of his service. It was reported that he was home on “compassionate leave” and it was expected that due to his age he would not likely return to England.

With so many men wanting to notify family of their arrival in Halifax Wesley’s telegraph to his wife had not arrived in Chatham before his train did. As luck would have it, the President of the Red Cross in Chatham received a message during their meeting; President A. Douglas Bell “hurried to meet the 19:35 CNR train” and delivered Wesley to his home at 156 Lacroix St to surprise his wife and daughter. There was a sad angle to the reunion, his daughter Mrs. Eileen Bridges had received word the past week that her husband Pte. Robert Bridges had been killed in action in Italy according to the article in the CDN 24/06/44 *.

*Foot Note: – There is no record on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for a Pte. Robert Bridges being a fatality. JRH.

LOOKING FOR FAMILY INFORMATION – Contact GOH Website.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

CFF-FD44, StAUC-RH, IODE(P).

Birthplace	Dawn Township
Religion	Presbyterian
Marital Status	Married
When Enlisted	1940
Next of Kin	Wife- Mrs. Margaret McIntyre

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