Sapper John Thomas Love was born in Sunbridge, Ontario, the son of Lewis and Clara Love. He had two sisters. Like many young men during the Great Depression, he left high school early after completing two years when he was 16 years old. He married Alice Alberta Love in 1938 and lived in Barrie, Ontario.
John enlisted in the at the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, Royal Canadian Engineers Depot in Toronto, Ontario on 18 June 1940. He had experience as a farmworker and was a qualified carpenter when he joined and a member of the Amalgamated Carpenters Union. Despite his high qualification, he agreed to work as a Carpenters Helper. Shortly after enrolling, John joined the 18th Field Company in Camp Sussex, New Brunswick. At that time it had been decided that the sappers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, who were to concentrate in the Maritimes before departing for the United Kingdom, would build the new camps in Sussex and Debert, Nova Scotia. The 18th Field Company came under command of the 8th Infantry Brigade, a relationship that would last through the war. John qualified as a Carpenters Helper Group ‘C’ in July 1941.
On 21 June 1941, the three field companies of the 3rd Divisional Engineers, 35 officers and 818 other ranks including 187 first reinforcements sailed for England out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were the first 3rd Division troops to leave Canada. Arriving in Scotland, they would settle in southern England in and around Aldershot in Hampshire, southwest of London. On arrival, the troops were attached by section and platoon to various Construction Companies to assist with constructing anti-invasion defence works across the south of England. By October, John was qualified as a Carpenter Group ‘B’ more closely matching his civilian qualifications.
In 1942, John and his fellow sappers were able to return to their units and devote full time to preparing for action on the Continent. Their introduction to combined operation was in April 1942 in Troon, Scotland – the first of many similar exercises over the next two years. Bridge training started with exercises across Yorkshire based out of Ripon. Over the next year, John would perfect bridging and add to his skills all sapper tasks including mine warfare, demolitions, weapons handling, water supply and field defences. In June 1943, he took part in the largest practice Bailey bridge built by the RCE in training – 180 feet of double-triple Bailey bridge on two piers Bailey across the River Adur in Sussex.
The 18th Field Company embarked for Normandy on 3 June 1944 and landed on Juno Beach in the assault wave on 6 June, D-Day. Most of the company landed on “Mike Red”, the current site of the Juno Beach Centre in Courselles-sur-Mer, and cleared beach obstacles and routes across the beach. Another platoon had been attached to the 5th Field Company and landed a full five minutes before the infantry to clear underwater obstacles in up to four feet of water before the incoming tide made the task impossible and they could be relieved by other engineers. The company continued inland that day, breaching obstacles in the dunes and in the minefields beyond. Over the next three months, John fought every engagement in the Battle of Normandy, helped cross the Seine with bridging and rafting operations, supported the clearance of the Channel ports and moved into Holland with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in preparation from Operation SWITCHBACK to clear the Breskens Pocket.
After having supported the crossing of the Leopold Canal and the amphibious assault across the Braakman Inlet, the company continued through the Breskens Pocket to the second German line of defence anchored on the towns of Breskens and Schoondyjke. The 9th Brigade launched their first attack on Breskens on the 21st of October and cleared to town by noon. A second attack was planned on Schoondyjke the following day.
The following day, before the attack, Number 3 Platoon was busy clearing the route to Schoondijke but made little progress due to sporadic shelling. As bad luck would have it, a friendly artillery ‘stonk’ fired at 11 o'clock to support the assault, fell short and a shell landed directly on the spot where a party from 3 Platoon had taken shelter. Sappers Logan and Love were killed instantly while Sapper Labarre was mortally wounded and died a short time later. Nine other sappers were wounded. The unit War Diary records this as "an Unfortunate Accident".
Sapper Thomas John Love had a temporary grave near Hoofdplaat, Holland but was later moved to the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium along with 847 other Canadian soldiers. He died 5 days before his 34th birthday.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt