95 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Jim was born on October 26, 1924 to Ella and Russell Cosens on the family farm in Fisherton, Manitoba. He took his schooling at Maidstone School District. He joined the Army on October 20, 1943 and was stationed for his basic training in Fort Garry and advance training in Camp Shilo Barracks. He left Camp Shilo in May 1944 and went by train to Windsor, Nova Scotia, where he spent a few days before going to Halifax, NS, where he got on a boat called "The Andes". The boat arrived in Liverpool, England after six days. He was only there for a short while before boarding a train to Barnsley, England, and from there to Aldershot, England. He had a short stay in Aldershot prior to heading to Caen, France, as reinforcements got united with Essex Scottish Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division. Jim’s next stop was Falaise, France, where he started active front line service. Fighting there was severe, but they won the battle. He spent about four weeks there. The regiment moved from there to Dieppe, France - a 100 mile trip that was made in one day. They rode on gun carriers or any way they could, some men even rode on artillery guns. When they arrived in Dieppe, they found that there were no civilians and no Germans, in fact, there was no one to be found there. The next day they moved onto Ostend, Belgium, in one day which was about fifty miles. There they found a few German soldiers along the sea coast with Naval guns, which was really no threat to them. All the civilians were there and treated them very well. Two days later, the Germans, approximately 700 in number, gave up and they took them prisoners. Essex Scottish Street in Ostend is named after their regiment. From there they went to Antwerp, Belgium, where they encountered resistance from the Germans. They spent about three weeks there before they started to move north through Holland in October 1944 to liberate Holland, which they did. They spent the winter at a place called Mook, Germany. Around the first of February 1945, they started to move towards the Rhine River, going through the Hawkwell Forest to Kalcar, Germany. That's where Jim got wounded in the right arm on February 23, 1945. He was sent back to 123rd British General Hospital in Belgium. He spent about a week there before he was sent to 24th Canadian General Hospital in England. He was still in this hospital when the war ended. He got out of the hospital around the end of May 1945. Because he didn't have enough points to come home he was sent to a holding unit in England. He volunteered for Auxiliary Service and went to Enschede, Holland, and worked in a place called "Broncostores" that handled all the canteen supplies for the Canadian Army Overseas. In January 1946, the stores moved to Wilhelmshaven, Germany. After they moved there, NATO decided they didn't need the Canadians in the occupation force anymore, and they no longer needed the big warehouse so they moved to a smaller warehouse in Oldenburg, Germany, where they stayed there until May 1946 and then moved back to Aldershot, England, to wait for a boat to take them home. From then on, Jim had an extended holiday by being able to go on leave for two weeks at a time for about four months. Jim embarked on the four-day journey for home in September 1946. The boat was called the Elde France. He was discharged from the Army on October 22, 1946 and took up farming. He married Rosemary Hopgood on October 28, 1949 and they had six children: Edwin, Patricia, Carolyn, Darlene, Thelma, and Ronald. COSENS, Jessie James “Jim” WWII
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