LEST WE FORGET 243 JONES, Sidney G. L. “Sid” WWII Sidney was born in Langmeade District near Vaun, Saskatchewan on May 6, 1917. He took basic training in Saskatoon and Ontario and served during World War II from 1941 to 1945. He served overseas in England, France, Belgium, and Holland. Sidney traveled to England on a ship called “Empress of Scotland”. He was attached to the Glengarry Highlanders for part of the war. Sid, a mechanic with Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, was part of the D-Day landing. His job was to remove waterproofing of tanks, jeeps, trucks as they landed under fire on the beaches. The good news is he survived and after assisting in Holland at war’s end, he returned to England and sailed home from Scotland on an old aircraft carrier called “Puncher”. He married Anna, who he met in basic training in Ontario, after corresponding with her all through the war. They settled in Paynton, SK, farmed and raised a family. Sid had joined The Royal Canadian Legion in 1941 when he joined the army and remained a member for 68 years until his passing October 20, 2009. JONES, William Henry “Bill” WWII William (Bill) Henry Jones was born on March 31, 1924, in Ardath, Saskatchewan. His parents, Henry Gill and Alvilde (Neilson) Jones, farmed near Ardath.William’s twin sister Jenny died when she was seven. He grew up on the family farm before enlisting in the army at the age of seventeen on June 19, 1941. He served in the Royal Hussars Armoured Division. His first station was in Algiers, with the armoured tank division. By the time he was eighteen, he has survived shrapnel injuries, malaria and a gunshot wound to his leg. He was the sole survivor when his tank exploded, killing everyone else on board. He spent Christmas of 1943 in Ortona, Italy, coming under fire from SS sharpshooters. By September 1944, Bill fought in the battle to seize Antwerp from the German Army. In April 1945, he moved with the tank division to the ‘Battle of the Bulge.’ Bill enlisted in the war as a 130-pound youth, and left the army at age 21, forty pounds heavier and considerably taller, but with good and bad memories that would follow him for the remainder of his life—for example, he could not handle loud noises. Returning to Saskatchewan, he married Edna Smith, and they had six children: Bruce, Daniel, Allan, Glen, Gail and Debbie. In 1960, Bill moved to Calgary and worked in the oil industry (founding member of AllCan Engineering) for almost fifty years, right up to his death on February 28, 2006, in Calgary. He is buried in Union Cemetery, Calgary.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==