Volume 22 www.legionnl.com 15 Newfoundland Labrador Command continued... The news of the boys’ loss was devastating to their father Richard and the rest of the family. Two boys lost and another two about to sail to war. One can imagine the heartache. Number 4 son was Jim. Out for adventure and eager to follow his older brothers into service he joined the navy in July, 1941 and was shipped overseas with the 15th Naval Contingent. As did all who joined, his papers show he agreed to serve “until the end of the present emergency” (i.e. the end of the war!). His wartime service was to include numerous assignments to minesweepers. During most of 1943 he was sailing the dangerous North Atlantic Run guarding valuable convoys on HMS Montgomery, a former US Navy four-stack destroyer supplied to the Royal Navy by the United States early in the war. He came home! Married his sweetheart Molly McCabe and eventually moved to Hamilton, Ontario to work in the steel mills. Their descendants continued the family record of service by joining and serving in the Canadian military. And then there was Gus, brother #5 and Ada Bradbury’s father…..her Dad. Born in November 1925, Augustus Neville was too young to join his brothers in the service when the war began. Ada believes he was one the youngest in the Royal Navy when sent overseas in 1944. There is a picture of Gus and Jim in uniform, two young lads far from home, grinning from ear to ear, bound and determined to have a good time. Gus spent most of his naval days in the Royal Naval Tug Service. He was a stoker in the engine rooms of tugs whose purpose was to help ships in distress, tow them to safety, pull survivors from the water, or recover bodies if they could. His favorite ship, HMS RT Eminent, eventually sailed through the heat of the Suez Canal on her way to the Pacific war still raging in the summer of 1945. They stopped at exotic ports of call in Ceylon and Hong Kong with shore leave that “is best not discussed” Gus would say with a grin. He too came home! His travels earned him the Burma Star along with the other medals he wore proudly every time he donned his Royal Canadian Legion blazer and beret. The two youngest boys missed serving in WWII but nevertheless continued in the finest of Neville traditions. Tom eventually moved to Labrador and fished in Black Tickle “where his father fished before”. Rich ended up in Bouctouche NB, married a local girl from the Miramichi and in the 1950’s joined the Black Watch of Canada. He became a North Shore lobster fisherman, a stonemason, an amateur boxer. His children also served in the Canadian Forces. Gus Neville, the hero of Ada Bradbury’s own story, came back from the war and returned to the Labrador fishery. There he met Elizabeth Keefe from Black Tickle and he and “Bess” settled in North River to raise a family. He eventually started work with the Department of Highways out of the depot in the Birch Hills, Bay Roberts. Tragically Gus was killed in July 1965 in an automobile accident while walking along the highway in the Birch Hills. Yet Gus Neville and his brothers will always live on in those proud Neville family traditions of both life at sea and service to one’s country. Ada Bradbury looks upon them as heroes still. Ada’s daughter, Amanda, adds of those who returned, “They saw and experienced so many things that when they returned they had a worldliness about them.” They had an appreciation of things that are really important in life; not fame or material gain but rather a successful family life and respect for others no matter their race, religion or creed. And good times with friends and old comrades. While Gus often expressed a guilt for coming home while Billy and Art and so many others did not, he would quietly compose himself, shed a tear, and then press his Legion uniform, shine his shoes and proudly march in remembrance with his comrades. He had made a promise - a promise passed down to his family, his children and their children, never to forget the service and sacrifice of his brothers and their comrades. And….his family never has! Eventually Ada joined the Auxiliary of her Dad’s Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 32 in Bay Roberts. Every July 1st and November 11th she pauses to give thought to those Neville brothers and what they stood for. They came from a time when things appeared to be more black and white, right and wrong. As one looks around at the rise of nationalism and the state of politics today, it becomes clear why we must commemorate their service and sacrifice. We run a great risk if our society does not pay attention to the lessons of the past. continued...
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