211 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca SWARK, Roy WWII Roy joined the Army in 1943 and joined the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. He took his basic training at Camp Shilo, Manitoba. He spent one year in England and worked on a crew hauling coal. The driver rolled the truck and spent six months in hospital, the rest of the crew had to remain there for the Board of Inquiry. While in England, Roy spent a lot of time with John Lywak. Roy spent some time in Holland and Germany. While in Germany, Roy was on an island in the Battle Sea on guard duty. After that, he became a Batman. Roy returned to Canada in the summer of 1946 and received his discharge in October 1946. SWITZER, Cecil WWII Cecil was the son of William Switzer and Margaret Thomas, the fourth child in a family of six. He was born and grew up on a farm in Fisherton, Manitoba, twelve miles northwest of Fisher Branch. Cecil joined the 18th Armoured Car Regiment in the fall of 1941. He was sent to Otter Point, Vancouver Island and was there until May 1942. He then went to Camp Debert, Nova Scotia for a couple of months, then went to England. Cecil was in England until March 1944. While in England he wrote that Cyril Stodgell had been to see him and how good it was to see him. Cecil was wounded in France in September 1944 and was sent back to England where he was hospitalized for many months, as he got diphtheria while he was in hospital. In February 1945, he wrote that he got engaged to Eleanor Henderson from Camper, Manitoba. She was a CWAC. He met her while in hospital. Frank Stodgell, her cousin, had brought her to visit Cecil. They had put in for permission to get married, but before permission came through, on April 3, 1945, he was sent back to the front line in Belgium. He died on about April 18 when a petrol stove exploded while he was lighting it. Cecil is buried in Holland in the Holten Cemetery.
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