247 www.on.legion.ca ONTARIO COMMAND McMANUS, Charles Leonard Charles was born on June 24, 1922, in Peel Township, the son of Thomas and Mary Minnie (Cain) McManus and grew up in Elora, Ontario. He joined the Canadian Army (Regular Force) in 1939 as a teenager and was stationed in London, England for the duration of the war. He met Alice Preston from Scotland who was with the British Army and also stationed in London. They married in Scotland in 1944. He bought a home in Salem, Ontario to move to after the war and brought his bride there in 1946. He worked for Beatty Bros. in Fergus, Ontario until 1953 when he started his plastering business and this successful family business is still running today, C. L. McManus & Sons Limited (McManus Plastering and Drywall). He and Alice raised seven children in Salem: Thomas, John, Mary Alice, Elizabeth, Michael, Teresa, and Noreen. Alice passed away in 1969 and Charles remarried in 1972 to Eileen Herman. Charles passed away on March 25, 2005. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 229 in Elora for sixty years until his death. McMANUS, Patrick Mitchell Patrick was born in Elora, Ontario on February 22, 1934. He enlisted in the Army (Regular Force) in 1950 and joined the RCR’s (Special Forces) in 1952. The RCR’s had the most casualties in the Brigade. Many in the unit were wounded or were killed. Patrick was released in 1992. Many of the survivors lost most or all of their hearing due to the proximity and constant shelling. He wore two hearing aids the rest of his life. He worked as an iron worker upon return and until he retired. He recalled many memories, some good but some very bad. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion for thirty years. Patrick passed away on March 9, 2024. McMANUS, John Arnold John was born in Peel Township, Ontario on May 9, 1915. He enlisted in the Navy (Regular Force) in 1942 and served on the corvette Eyebright in the North Atlantic on convoy duty escorting protected ships with supplies from St. John’s, NL to Britain. He was discharged in 1945. John, like many other veterans, did not speak a lot about the war. Some of his shipmates died en route to Britain. As John put it, they never got their sea legs. He was injured when the Eyebright was being re-fitted. There was no doctor on the corvettes so there was no record of this. This injury caused him the most difficulty in the last ten years of his life, requiring two surgeries. During the war, he met Rose, the love of his life, in St. John’s. After they married, they settled in Elora, Ontario and raised six children. He worked hard, mostly in Beatty Brothers in Fergus. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 229 for over fifty years. John passed away on January 7, 2002.
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