Lance Corporal John Fredrick Haigh was born in West Runton, Norfolk, England to Joseph Frederick and Gertrude Mary Haigh. The family moved to Canada, but his parents soon separated and he was raised by his mother. He had one brother and four sisters. 

John was running a small farm in Sidmouth, BC deep in the Rocky Mountains when enlisted in Revelstoke, BC on 8 July 1941. He claimed his youngest sister and his mother as dependents. His training started soon after at the Canadian Army Basic Training Centre in Vernon, BC.  In October, he was sent to the Canadian Army Advanced Training Centre in Nanaimo, BC where he also took some training in carpentry. In May 1942, John was posted to the Royal Canadian Engineers and was sent to A6 Canadian Engineer Training Centre in Camp Chilliwack, BC.

The 9^th Field Company started life in Camp Petawawa in September 1940 as part of the 4^th Canadian Divisional Engineers. An earlier iteration of the company was absorbed by No. 1 Canadian Base Units Construction Company who left for the United Kingdom days earlier. It concentrated in Petawawa with other divisional units (9^th Field Companies and the 6^th Field Park Company) and began training that fall. They moved to Debert, NS in January 1942 and deployed to England in June and 4^th Canadian Divisional Engineers, changing their name to the 9^th Field Squadron. John arrived in England on 21 July 1942 and sent to the Canadian Engineer Reinforcement Centre in Aldershot.  He qualified as a Carpenter Group ‘B’ in August and joined the 9^th Field Squadron in October.  For two years they moved about England building Bailey bridges, training on mines and booby traps, building fortifications and cleaning up damage from German bombs and V-1 rockets.

John’s letters from England indicate that life on the farm was hard for his mother and sister after he left home. There was work to do and hired hands were scarce.  John tried to rent land or have it worked by a neighbour because he wanted to return to farming after the war.  In another letter sent in March 1943, he complained of boredom and bad rations.  Morale was sinking and he said most Canadian troops were becoming impatient waiting for action. John was appointed Lance Corporal in March 1944, and in June 1944, weeks before being deployed to France, he married Dorothy May Young in Frant, Sussex.

The Squadron arrived in France on 22 July 1944 using the artificial harbour at Arromanches.  Their first task was clearing rubble in Caen while being continually shelled by German artillery. In early August, they were part of Operation TOTALIZE, one of the last battles in Operation OVERLORD and the first for the newly formed 1^st Canadian Army with sections riding in half-tracks to keep up with the tanks as they followed a massive creeping barrage. Their task was to build tank positions at Falaise to cut off retreating German forces.  After that, they built rafts on the Seine and were the first Canadian engineers to cross over and spent the week clearing routes to the Somme.  At Pont Remy, on the 3^rd of September, the 9^th Field Squadron built three Bailey bridges in one day - a 60-foot Double-Single, a 40-foot Single-Single and a 60-foot Double-Single, all before 0940 hours!  The 8^th Field Squadron built the Ward Bridge, a 90-foot Double-Single, named for one of their officers. 

By early September, they were in Belgium leading the 4^th Armoured Division including the provision of bridging support in the early attempts to establish a bridgehead over the Leopold Canal in mid-September.  They remained in the area for the next four weeks and among othe bridging and route maintenance tasks, built one of two 120-foot bridges over the Leopold and Derivation Canals that would later figure heavily in the success of Operation SWITCHBACK to clear the Breskens Pocket, the south bank of the Scheldt.

On 15 October, the Squadron moved for the 3^rd Canadian Division area east and just north of Antwerp.  The 2^nd Canadian Division had been involved in clearing the approaches to the Beveland Peninsula since 2 October. Operation VITALITY, the clearing of South Beveland Island was scheduled for 24 October.  The 4^th Division’s task was to protect their eastern and northern flanks from any counter-attack.  The Sappers were put to work with the 2^nd Divisional Engineers on the approaches, building and replacing brides, clearing routes and lift mines and booby traps. On 19 October, the Division divided itself into two battle groups and started their move northwards.  Flail tanks and AVREs from 81 Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers came under command of the 9^th Field Squadron.

‘Green Route Up’. the unofficial history of the 4^th Armoured Divisional Engineers tells the story as it happened on 21 October:

“Starting at the road junction north of MARIA TER HEIDE, 2 Troop led up the left fork and 3 Troop cleared the right for about a mile, then followed 2 Troop. At the road junction 3 Troop removed many ‘S’ and Tellermines, and a 50 kg bomb booby-trapped to a house gate, then commenced clearing side roads where they removed dozens of mines and bombs and several burnt out vehicles. 2 Troop cleared to KRUISTRAAT encountering several ‘S’ mines in the verges and an ‘R’ mine. AVREs were called on to fill a blown out culvert with fascines. At KRUISTRAAT, 3 Troop took over and cleared to ACHTERBROEK leaving 2 Troop with lateral roads. 2 Troop lost two sappers killed and four wounded from ‘S’ mines while opening a lateral to 4 CAB. The enemy had a continuous belt of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines running west from KRUISTRAAT. Dozens of ‘R’ mines were removed.”

Lance Corporal John Fredrick Haigh was fatally wounded and died at the 2^nd Canadian General Hospital. He was buried Braschast, Belgium later moved to the Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery in Holland.

His brother, Lance Corporal Douglas Haigh served overseas in the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt