Ernest Wilfred Gibbons was born in Yiewsley, Middlesex, England. He came to Canada as a teenager with his father, Edward William L. Gibbons, in 1920 and took up farm work. He married Olive Myrtle Gibbons of Dauphin, Manitoba in 1931 and had a farm in Ashville, Manitoba. They had a son born in and in 1935, owing to the health of the child, they were advised to take the family back to England. At the time, they planned to return to Canada in 1940. A daughter was born in England in 1939.
While in England, Ernest had jobs first as a truck driver and later as an ambulance driver. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in October 1939, serving in the 254th Field Park Company in Armagh, Northern Ireland. He applied to transfer to the Canadian Army Active Service Force in September 1941 and on 19 February 1942, his transfer was approved. At the same time, his son’s health had improved as predicted and his wife and two children returned to Canada and took up residence in Winnipeg.
Based on his experience, Ernest was employed as a motor transport driver and posted to the 1st Corps Field Survey Company, later re-organised as the 1st Field Survey Company, one of four survey companies destined to serve in Northwest Europe. Continuing his training, he qualified as a driver mechanic in February 1943. He was promoted to Lance-Corporal in May 1944. He landed in Normandy on 1 August 1944 with the 6th Topographic Section, 2nd Field Survey Company (Topo). Canadian survey units were very often located near the front lines where maps could be quickly distributed to units. Ernest’s unit was close enough in the crowded Normandy Beachhead that on 8 August 1944 during Operation TOTALISE, nine men were killed and 15 wounded when American bombers dropped their loads short of their intended targets just south of Caen.
As the enemy withdrew from Normandy and fled towards Belgium, the demand for maps increased to the point that integral transport from the survey companies was marshalled into a Survey Depot by the end of August.. First Canadian Army carried a stock of maps weighing more than 250 tons loaded on trucks as First Canadian Army moved into the Low Countries. They were never far from Army HQ and detachments were often forward with the advancing divisions. A key reason was to keep artillery units ‘on-grid’. Without continued map updates and traverse lines, the accuracy and effectiveness of supporting fire would be lost.
On the morning of 28 October, the 2nd Field Survey Company HQ and the 6th Topographic Section had just moved into new billets in a château at Maria-ter-Heide, just northeast of Antwerp. From there, survey parties would be sent forward. The area was heavily mined and clearing crews were at work. Lt Hudson, working with the company, along with L/Cpl E. W. Gibbons and Spr G. J. Turcotte, were one such crew. They soon discovered a slit trench filled with explosives and mines about 70 yards north of the Château. There was a booby-trap switch and a trip wire attached to the entire lot. After Lt Hudson safely disarmed the trap, the three were asked by a civilian farmer to clear some mines near the gateway leading into the camp. At 1130 hours, one of the mines, likely a booby trapped S-mine, exploded and killed all three as well as a Belgian labourer standing near by.
That afternoon, Lieutenant Robert Philip Hudson, Lance-Corporal Ernest Wilfred Gibbons and Sapper Gabriel Turcotte were buried in the Pelouse d’Honneur in the parish churchyard of St. Joseph Wuestwezel in the village of Gooreind. L/Cpl Gibbons' remains were later moved the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Antwerp.
The company’s war diary reports that the company was badly shaken by the incident. There area strong feeling the Château was haunted and the unit’s Padre, H/Capt Hall was unsuccessful is dispelling the myth. However, they stayed there and continued their survey work for some weeks.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt