Nicholas James ‘Nick” Hantiuk was born in Vegreville, Alberta, the son of Mike and Mary Hantiuk, Romainian immigrants. He was the oldest in a family of ten children. He went to school in Vegreville but left part way through Grade IX to start work. Nick served in the 19th Alberta Dragoons from September 1939 until he enlisted in the Canadian Army Active Force on 11 September 1942 in Edmonton, AB. He had married Mary M. Semotiuk in Vegreville the previous year. He declared his occupation as painter.
Nick was kept for nearly a month in the Edmonton Depot as a general reinforcement until 3 October when he started eight weeks of basic training at Canadian Army Basic Training Centre 131 in Camrose, AB. On 1 December, he was posted to A5 Royal Canadian Engineers Training Centre in Dundurn, Saskatchewan and started ten more weeks of Advanced Sapper Training. In April 1943 he was classified and a Construction-Painter Group ‘B’ and began drawing $0.50 a day trades pay. He arrived in the United Kingdom on 2 September 1943 and was assigned to the 31st Field Company. Most of the troops in the 31st Field Company had arrived in Britain as ‘C’ Company, 4th Battalion, RCE. From the time of their arrival their work focused on construction of defence works, camps, roads and airfields. After a reorganization in May 1943 and the formation of the 31st Field Company, they would focus on field engineering tasks on the continent – bridging, route construction and repair, water supply and mine and obstacle removal.
On 7 June 1944, the company was informed of the Normandy invasion. They immediately set out waterproofing their vehicles, kit and equipment, keen to go. However, their optimism was premature and it was another month on 7 July that they were finally in France as part of 2nd Canadian Army Troops in support of II Canadian Corps. They went work quickly in Normandy taking on tasks of route construction & maintenance, bridging, minefield clearance, water supply and defence works construction. A notable accomplishment was the construction of the Churchill Bridge in Caen. (See Sapper Gallantry on the Orne). They took part in the battles of Bouguebus Ridge, Verrieres Ridge and the Channel Port of Calais.
The company moved from Calais into Belgium in September and were involved in the Battle of the Scheldt almost from the start. In the second week of October, they took over the assault initial bridges over the Leopold and Derivation Canals, and built routes on both sides to support the 3rd Division’s advance. More than once they came under fire.
A few weeks later they assisted in the amphibious attack from the south side of the Scheldt onto South Beveland Island in support of the British 52nd (Lowland) Division’s assault over the Scheldt, in turn to support the 2nd Canadian Division fighting its way out of the Beveland Isthmus. They built entry and exit ramps for amphibious vehicles as well as a Bailey pontoon ferry to take supplies and armoured vehicles across the 7-mile gap.
On 31 October, the company set out on an 80-mile route from the south bank to the Beveland Isthmus. Their tasks were to open and maintain the routes across the isthmus. This included maintaining two Bailey bridges at eastern end of the Isthmus, repairing roads, filling craters, and clearing the verges of the many mines left behind.
This work continued for a few more days. On the morning of 3 November, two members of 2 Platoon were involved in a serious mine accident. Sapper Nicholas James Hantiuk died of his wounds as a result. His comrade Sapper Raymond Rousseau, was killed outright. Nicholas is buried in the Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery in Holland. He was 34 years old when he was killed.
Note: Two younger brothers and a sister also served during the war. See the news clipping for details.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt