43 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca BEAUVAIS, Wilfred WWII Wilfred joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in September 1940. While with the Cameron Highlanders he took part in the Dieppe Raid. He later transferred to Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal while still overseas. He received his discharge in 1945. Wilfred resided in Fisher Branch until his death. BECK, Andrew “Andy” WWII Andy was one of the two Beck Brothers. He enlisted in Winnipeg on July 10, 1940. He took basic training at Fort William, Ontario and advance training at Ottawa, Ontario. He was a guard of honour in Ottawa. They went on a forced route march from Ottawa to Montreal. Then they moved to Camp Borden, Ontario where they took most of their training. They went to Truro, Nova Scotia, also to Saint John, New Brunswick, then back to Regina, Saskatchewan, for a mechanic’s course for six weeks, then back to Saint John for a motorcycle course, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and overseas in August 1942 on the Strathmore ship in a big convoy. They dropped a lot of depth charges at German subs. A big tanker of the convoy blew up. They were about thirteen days on the ocean. They landed at South Hampton, England. They were stationed at Brighton for a long time. He met Cyril Stodgell, Jack Romanson, Charlie Mackie, and Morris Smith. He liked to go to Aberdeen and Glasgow, Scotland on leave. He was stationed in Wales, England taking training. “I was a dispatch rider and went on a dispatch trip of 200 miles. It was pouring rain and two security guards stopped me! They demanded me to give them my dispatch papers. I refused and drew my revolver, then they said I could go. I had to go to H.Q. and explain what had happened. They told me everything was okay.” He went into action at Forge, France. “We changed our motorcycles over to American Half Tracks because our motorcycles were too noisy and always getting stuck.” He was a machine gunner. Andy was wounded at Falaise Gap, France in August 1944 when on a motorized spearhead. His wounds were in the left leg, right arm, and the back of the neck. He laid in the battle field for about 24 hours before the ambulance came to pick him up. The Major was with Andy, and wounded badly. He later died in England of the wounds received at that time. Andy was in an outpost hospital in France for about a week, and was then taken to Bramshott, England. He came back to Canada in November 1944 and was in hospital at Fort Osborne and Deer Lodge. He finally went home to his parents on Christmas Day 1944. He went to Portage la Prairie to convalesce for about a month and was discharged on January 25, 1945. He resided at his parents’ farm.
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