Born 03/04/18 at Ohswegen, ON.  Six Nations Reserve, Cdn. Gen. Hospital Unit. ‘Art’ appears on the “Muster Roll” of the 2^nd Bn., Kent Regiment (MG), N.P.A.N. (date unknown).

Prior to the war, John was a railway porter. He married Jean 30 Dec., 1942 in Chatham, ON, eight months before he was going overseas to England.

He enlisted in the Army 20/07/1942 in Brampton, ON., No. 24 Basic training Centre. After arriving in England, he was posted to 1^st Battalion, Queen’s own Rifles (QOR) in 1943. They were stationed at Aldershot; southwest of London. According to Jean, she wrote to John often, but he seldom wrote back. John appears in the Book “Battle Diary” by CSM. Charlie Martin being in A-Coy. Queen’s Own Rifles as a Rifleman landing on D-Day 6/06/44.

Art was on the first Canadian ship to land on Juno Beach 6 June, 1944 D-Day with able Company QOR. His landing craft hit the beach at Courseulles-sur-mar where his job was to blow up some barbed wire entanglements. The shelling from the ships was very heavy and that had taken out the obstacle. The unit was to meet at a railroad ditch, however, of the 33 men in his platoon, only 11 made it. “My buddy Jack Bailey from Galt [now Cambridge On.], was hit and killed. I was lying right beside him.” The survivors moved about 11 kilometers in land where they rested briefly.

After a brief rest and some food, John and two other men ventured out in the dark to stand guard duty. They spent a sleepless night firing into the darkness when they heard a noise. John said, “We fired from the hip because we couldn’t see to aim.” In the morning, when the sergeant major went to check on them, he found two dead Germans approximately two meters away.

In September of 1944 Jean would receive the distressing news that John had been injured.  The telegram just said that he had been “seriously injured” without any details. He was wounded during the attack on Boulogne Fr. On 17/09/44. The wound was not serious; it was a broken bone in his wrist that was due to being struck by a piece of shrapnel. Unfortunately, Jean did not learn of this until after the war.

He returned to his regiment in time for the Rhineland campaign. Promoted to Corporal, he was wounded a second time during the fighting at Mooshof and again at Steeg, Germany. This time, the telegram reported John as “slightly wounded”; in fact, he was out of action for three months after being shot in both the back and thigh. The extent of these wounds did not become evident until after the war. In 1952, while playing with his oldest daughter Pam, she “whacked her Daddy on the bum”. The whack drove a piece of lead that had been there since he was wounded; it was driven into to his hip joint causing immediate pain. The explanation John reported was that, “They hadn’t X-rayed him during the war so no one knew it was there.” The 1952 X-ray also found a piece of shrapnel in his right lung. Because of the position of this fragment, the doctors said it was safer to leave it alone.

The CDN 21/12/45 Reported that John had arrived home from overseas was welcomed home in North Buxton.

He was discharged “to return to civil life” at Toronto, ON. 5/02/1946 at the age of 27 yrs. 10 mths. (Record of Service)

After the war, Art returned to his hometown of Chatham, ON. He had so much shrapnel remaining in his body he could set off metal detectors at airports. Up until the day of his death, pieces of metal would work their way through his skin a painful reminder of his war.

He took up barbering when he returned home and was still barbering four days a week in 1994 at the age of 76 years.

Arthur passed away 21/10/2002.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

“The Rifleman – Journal of the QOR 2002-03, Macleans magazine 6/06/94., J. Maxwell (P) C-K Museum}, CDN (10/11/07 - the Granfather of Bert Alexander, 10/11/07, 11/11/10), CFF-FD44, IODE(N), CCI-RH, LM-LP, MD-RH, 2KRMR

Birthplace	Six Nations Reserve
Religion	Protestant
Marital Status	Married
When Enlisted	1942
Next of Kin	Wife- Mrs. Jean Marie Alexander

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