119 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca After they got tank and personnel reinforcements, then it as quite an inside run towards Brussels in Belgium. On their left was the 4th Division. They came up the coast by Dieppe. They cleared that section of the country and knocked out a lot of the coastal defences. The German Army was retreating, so they were able to advance a little faster. After they got to Brussels, they swung out North and headed for Antwerp, along the Leopold and Albert Canals. They ran into quite heavy resistance along the Leopold Canal. The Germans blew the dikes on the Zuider Zee and flooded that whole section of country. They weren’t much affected by this because their route took them north, on higher ground, towards the Scheldt Estuary to Walcheren Island, towards Bergen op Zoom. There they met with heavy resistance. They advanced on to Nijmegen and stayed in that neighbourhood over Christmas. They went into a refit or rest period for a while. That’s when the Germans made a big push through the Ardennes. They figured they would be celebrating Christmas, and they would take advantage of it, and they did too. They almost broke through south, to the sea. That’s where he lost a brother-in-law, Roy Dow, from Bethany. He was married to Albert’s wife’s sister. Shortly after Christmas, the Allies packed up and went would along the Rhine and crossed it, then turned north along the Rhine and inland from there. In any case, they pushed up north and east of the Rhine to Bremen in Germany. That’s where they were when the war folded up on May 7, 1945. They then went up the coast and took over the German armor at Bremerhaven. They then went into a holding position at Sapamer, twelve miles from the German border in Holland in readiness in case the Germans started fighting again. They had to watch out for guerillas. Shortly after this, they were sent back to England in small groups and eventually back to Halifax, on the Queen Elizabeth in October 1945. He took the train to Winnipeg in November as Warrant Officer II. He had the chance to take his commission in England, but wouldn’t because he figured the job he was doing was more essential than being an officer. Albert rejoined the Dragoons in Minnedosa as a technical adjutant, as 2nd Lieutenant. He stayed with the Dragoons until 1956 when he resigned and returned to civilian life. Albert was a mechanic with Funnel Motors in Minnedosa to start with, and then he transferred to Virden as shop manager in a garage, McLean-White-Ford Motors. He left there and went to work for Massey-Harris in Virden, then Brandon and Winnipeg. He was shop division manager when he lost a couple of fingers in a forklift truck, twelve feet up in the air. Eventually, he quit Massey-Harris and went to work with the Provincial Government as a Correctional Officer at the Brandon Jail. He trained in Headingley and came out of there with a certificate in psychology, psychiatric nursing, criminal law, and sociology. He also took several St. John’s Ambulance courses. Then he got to the point where he wasn’t using the right attitude with the prisoners and before he hurt somebody, he decided to get out after 23 years. He then had a few years that he could go hunting and fishing. He married Lila Horne in 1969. He had lost his wife, the former Inez Leonard from Bethany in 1961. They had three children. He had been incapacitated and was residing at the Personal Care Home in Minnedosa. They had ten grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. He was a life member of the Ft. Garry Horse Association and The Royal Canadian Legion Minnedosa Branch 138. Albert passed away on March 21, 1994, and is interred in Minnedosa Cemetery. He received the Efficiency Medal for twelve years of service with extra leaf for more than twelve years of service, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal, France and Germany Star, 1939-1945 Star, and War Medal 1939-1945. LAMB, Albert George (continued)
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