Paul Alcide Bourassa was born in Radville, Saskatchewan to Doria and Antoinette Bourassa. He was living in Mildred, Saskatchewan when he enrolled in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps in Saskatoon on 20 September 1940. He was working as a blacksmith at the time.
Given his trade skills and experience, Paul’s request to transfer to the Royal Canadian Engineers was granted in March 1942 after completing his basic training in Fort William, Ontario. Two of his brothers had already enlisted in the Army, and one was already a sapper. Shortly after arriving at A6 Canadian Engineer Training Centre at Camp Chilliwack, British Columbia, he married his fiancé who had travelled west from Sokol, Saskatchewan. They had only been living at Cultus Lake for a month when Paul embarked for the United Kingdom in June 1942. After some months in the Engineer Reinforcement Unit where he qualified as Blacksmith Group ‘B’.
Elements of the 2nd Field Company had participated in the Dieppe Raid and were still recuperating when Paul joined them in October 1942. After their rest, they turned their attention to preparing for the ultimate invasion, the Normandy Landings. For more than a year and a half, the company perfected their bridging skills and practised mine lifting and route clearance, disembarking in France a month after the initial landings. They immediately got to work clearing the routes through Caen, bridging the Orne River and participating in the key battles to close the Falaise Gap. They working on the approaches to the Seine and participated in operations to cross the river. An advanced reconnaissance party from the unit were among the first Canadian soldiers to re-enter Dieppe when it fell on 1 September 1944. By 10 September, they were in Ostend, Belgium putting the port and the routes in and out, back into operation. By the end of September, they had worked their way as far as Antwerp and supporting preparations for the Clearance of the Beveland Approaches that started on the night of 1 October.
At 2000 hrs on 7 October, a call was made to remove a large timber road blocking in the Essex Scottish area. The obstacle was removed and the road had been opened to one-way traffic when the position came under intense mortar fire. Sappers Lemmerick and Bourassa were wounded, with Paul suffering a serious chest wound. He was taken to Number 8 Canadian General Hospital by the 11th Field Ambulance but could not be saved. He died two days later and is buried in Schoonselhof Cemetery in Antwerp.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt