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The first Canadian sapper to set foot in Sicily was Captain George Wheelock Burbidge of the 4th Field Company. Captain Burbidge was attached to Combined Operations HQ and was assigned to 3 Combined Operations Pilotage Party in Malta. These parties gathered information on proposed landing beaches usually under the noses of enemy coastal defences and patrols.
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While the ground dictated that the infantry would bear the brunt of the battle, and indeed they did, the ground also dictated that the sappers would be front and centre in every action of the Sicilian Campaign. In less than two months, the Canadians would be on the Italian mainland and in a fight that would last into the winter of 1945 and become known as 'An Engineers War'. |
Joseph Gerard Barnabé was born in Masham, Québec, the third son of Cyprien and Priscille Barnabe. Left school after Grade Five at age 13 to work at 13 in lumber camps. Had been working linesman man for Gatineau Power for two years before enrolling in the Royal Canadian Engineers on 26 March 1942 in Ottawa.
Walter Forsyth Currie was born in Port Williams, Kings County, Nova Scotia, the child of William F. Currie and Beatrice W. Currie. He was working as a field hand on a farm in Greenwich, NS when he registered under the National Resources Mobilization Act (NMRA), in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 6 April 1942. The National Resources Mobilization Act (1940) aimed to provide a better planning base for the increasing war effort for military service overseas and military production at home. To help prepare for military service, most of the population was required to register for military service.
William George “Bill” Fowler was born in Calgary, Alberta, the youngest child of Thomas and Margaret Ann Fowler. He grew up in Edson, Alberta where his father, who had emigrated from Scotland, operated a trucking business.
Frederick Thomas Campbell was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, the son of Frederick and Annie Campbell McLeod who had moved from South Nelson, New Brunswick with two older sisters to Hibbing 10 years earlier. Fred, his mother and one sister returned to South Nelson in 1928. Fred’s father died in Hibbing in 1929. Before enlisting, Fred worked as a truck driver. There is very little in Sapper Campbell’s personnel file concerning time in the army. In many ways, he was but one of the thousands of young men who for a range of reasons choose to join up during the war.
| The previous articles present the role of the Royal Canadian Engineers during Operation HUSKY, the Allied campaign to land on the island of Sicily and take it from the Axis Powers. Although the landings were almost unopposed, action along the line of march from the beaches at Pachino in the south, over the mountains to the town of Adrano in the north, was hard and deadly. On a man-for-man basis, the RCE took casualties at a rate second only to the infantry. |
Thomas George Prince was one of 11 children born to Henry and Arabella Prince of the Brokenhead Band at Scanterbury, Manitoba. As a boy, he tracked and hunted. He was an excellent shot with a rifle. He attended the Elkhorn Indian Residential School, where he completed grade eight. He worked as a labourer and spent time with the Army cadets as a teenager.
Frank Leonard Osborn Breeze was born in Witten, Birmingham, England in 1893. He had served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a reservist for four years before coming to Canada He enlisted in the 67th Battalion (Western Scots) (1) in Victoria, BC on 1 September 1915 He was married to Florence Breeze who was still living in Witten at the time. He declared his trade as painter.
Herbert Abrams was born in 1891 in Kettering, Northamptonshire and emigrated to Canada He worked as a farmer and volunteer fireman and enlisted into the Canadian Army on 11 June 1915 at Niagara Camp, Ontario. He was assigned to the 37th Battalion (Northern Ontario), CEF. (1)