179 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca LAWRIE, Angus C. WWII Angus was born in Brookdale on June 13, 1912. He received his education there and prior to enlistment was employed in his father’s machinery business. Enlisting in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles as a private on June 21, 1940, he trained at Shilo and Debert, proceeding overseas in August 1941, returning to Canada as a sergeant in 1942, and after graduating from Gordon Head in June 1943, went back overseas in August 1944. While overseas, he has served in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Lieutenant Angus Campbell Lawrie, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Lawrie, of Brookdale, has been awarded the Military Cross for devotion to duty while serving with the Canadian Army overseas. On October 16 at Biezen, Holland, during the battle for the south side of Scheldt Estuary, Lieutenant Lawrie commanded an infantry platoon in a house clearing operation. The platoon was to clear the houses on the left side of the main road, while another cleared those on the right side. It was a dawn operation and designed to enlarge the bridgehead over the Leopold Canal. Lawrie and his platoon gained their objective, and seeing that the other platoon was in difficulty, went back and crossed the road which was under heavy mortar and machine gun fire. He found that the platoon commander had been killed, the sergeant wounded, and the platoon without a leader and badly disorganized. Lieutenant Lawrie got together the remnants of the platoon and organized them into a fighting unit. He then led them into the attack on the strong enemy positions defending the garrison of approximately forty Germans and gained the company’s objective. Angus was married to Ruth McKee of Neepawa in 1937. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Neepawa Branch 23 for 21 years. He passed away on December 9, 1969. LeBLANC, Johnathon Colin Afghanistan Johnathon was born in 1982 at CFB Cold Lake Alberta. He spent the first four years of his life in CFB Cold Lake Alberta and CFS Goose Bay Labrador. At the age of ten, he moved to Fort Frances, Ontario with his family. He followed in his older brother’s footsteps after high school in 2001 and joined the 116th Field Artillery unit in Kenora, Ontario. In 2008, he went to Kandahar, Afghanistan as a Master Bombardier with Task Force 108, 1 RCHA “B” Battery “D” Troop. He was there from February to October. He received a Commander Commendation for life saving for an incident at Forward Operating Base Wilson on February 24, 2008. He also received an ISAF Medal. After returning from Afghanistan, he moved to Thunder Bay, Ontario to start a new life with his soon-to-be wife. He retired from service in 2013 with the rank of Sergeant.
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