17 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca ALEX, Hilding Waldemar WWII Hilding was born in Minnedosa in 1918. He was 25 and farming when he joined up on September 14, 1942, with the Royal Canadian Artillery at Ft. Osborne Barracks, Winnipeg. He immediately transferred to the Canadian Provost Corps. He took his basic training at Ft. Osborne Barracks for six weeks. Then he was moved to Provost Detachment and took Provost training for about three months. On February 8, 1943, he was posted to Camp Borden for another three months training. Then in May 1943, he was posted back to Winnipeg. In July he went overseas with the Provost Corps on the Queen Elizabeth. There were about 25,000 troops on board. The trip took four days and four nights without escort from Halifax. They landed at South Hampton. They then travelled to Aldershot for two or three weeks and after that he was sent out to the field unit of 1st Division of the Provost Corps not far from Aldershot. He trained there on motorcycles - Harley Davidson - going up banks and jumping. Once he had a spill, broke his collar bone, and was in hospital on Lady Aster’s Estate for three months. When he got out of hospital, Hilding was posted back to H.Q. in London and was on detachment there for about a year. After that he was posted to Manchester on detachment for another year. Provost duties included jurisdiction over military convoy and military personnel, e.g.: picking up A.W.O.L.’s and deserters. Then he came back to London and was sent on detachment to Reading for about two months. At the end of March 1945, on the outskirts of Reading, Hilding had an accident. He was returning from Quarter Master Store (QMS) to Reading when he had a head on collision with a 1/2-ton truck on his Harley Davidson 45. He landed on the hard top - broke his left wrist and both legs between the knee and the hip. He also injured his back and left foot. His bike was wrecked. The accident was not his fault. A civilian on a bicycle didn’t stop at a stop sign.When he saw Hilding coming, he stopped in the middle of the road thinking he couldn’t make it across. He got off his bike and was jumping all over the place. When Hilding approached him, he swerved to miss him on the opposite side of the road, then swerving back to get on his right side of the road he collided head on with the 1/2-ton truck. He was in an English civilian hospital for a week, then was transferred to an army hospital in Taplow. He was sent there from the end of March to the middle of July 1945. He was then sent back to Canada to Deer Lodge Hospital, Winnipeg until a few days before Christmas. He was able to walk with two canes so was allowed to go home to Minnedosa for Christmas, then went back to Deer Lodge after Christmas for about two months. On September 19, 1945, because he was “unable to meet the required military physical standards”, he was given his discharge. But in the meantime, on June 27, 1945, he got married to Irene Coe, who was in the British Army Women’s Provost Corps. They were married by the Bishop of Buckingham at Toplow Parish Church in Buckinghamshire. Hilding had full body casts on from armpits down to his feet and had to be carried into the church on a stretcher! In two weeks time he was returned to Canada on the hospital ship Lady Nelson. Irene remained in England for another year. She arrived in Canada in May 1946. She had to stay in the army until the end of the Japanese war. Back in Minnedosa he bought a half section west of town and under great duress - lots of pain - he started farming on his own. Their new house was built in 1946. Hilding farmed until 1979 when his disability got much worse. In June 1979, he had a hip replacement. Then in 1988, he had his left knee replaced and the right knee on January 16, 1989, at a cost of $700.00 a day, paid by D.V.A. and Manitoba Medical. Irene and Hilding have three daughters and five grandchildren. The church is a very important part of his life teaching Sunday School, chairman of the board, choir director (sang in the choir since age 17) and served on Deacon Board (still); chairman of the local (27 years) and Sub-District Pool Council for three years, Reeve of Odanah R.M. for seven years (currently reeve), Chairman of Library Board, Member of Hospital Board for 15 years, president of church camp for 20 years, and presently acting as co-ordinator of Canadian Covenant Heights Bible Camp at Clear Lake. He is presently on the new hall committee in Minnedosa, and is also a member of the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (a member of the liaison Committee). He was on the executive Board of the Canadian Conference Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada for 17 years. He also sings in the Covenant Church choir for special services such as funerals and weddings. Hilding was a 13-year member of The Royal Canadian Legion Gen. Hugh Dyer Branch 138. Hilding received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-1945.
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