Corporal Albert William Slade was born in Reading, England and came to Canada as a young man. His father had been killed during the First World War and his mother had died many years earlier.
Albert had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve in Toronto in 1928 as a Stoker 2nd Class for a three-year engagement, but served only a few weeks before he requested release stating that he would willingly rejoin the Navy should he be needed. The Navy’s response was akin to “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” Albert went on to pursue a solid career as a stationary engineer (stoker) in a manufacturing plant in Sandwich, Ontario. When he enrolled in the Canadian Active Service Force in London, Ontario on 20 March, he was married and had four children.
Albert arrived in Aldershot, England in September 1940. The 11th Field Company was heavily involved in works projects including the construction of accommodations and camps across the country. Albert’s training included a number of exercises and combined arms training in Scotland. He continued his sapper training and was soon qualified Stoker Group ‘C’ and Pioneer Group ‘C’.
The main body of the 11th Field Company arrived in France on 9 July as part of 2nd Canadian Division Engineers. They participated fully in all operations during the Battle of Normandy and the advance across the Seine and through the clearing of the Channel Ports, clearing routes and building bridges. In late September, they finished their bridging tasks in the Boulogne area on the English Channel and moved inland to the area just south of Antwerp in Belgium.
The Battle of the Scheldt officially began on 2 October 1944 when the 2nd Canadian Division crossed the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal to clear the Beveland approaches. For the RCE, the Battle of the Scheldt started a few days earlier. On the night of 30 September, the Number 3 Platoon struggled under fire to build an 80-foot Class 40 bridge across the canal just west of a weaken bridge built the night before by the 7th Field Company near Lockenberg. The task was costly when a direct hit on the bank seat party early on 1 October, killed two and wounded four more. Continued mortaring slowed the work during the day, but the bridge was open to traffic before the evening.
The following day, in support of the 6th Brigade, Number 2 Platoon was tasked to build another Class 40 bridge over the canal. The work was costly. S-mines at the site killed one and wounded two others, including the Platoon Commander who was replaced with an officer from the 7th Field Company. Later in the day, two more men – Cpl Slade and Spr Bidwell, were killed when they drove a stake into a deeply buried mine.
Corporal Albert William Slade is buried in Schoonselhof Cemetery near Antwerp. He was 34 years old.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt
