大象传媒

This story is about my dad 鈥� George Linsley. Dad was born on 28th February 1910 in the South Durham village of Cockfield which is roughly half way between the towns of Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle in Teesdale, County Durham.

At the age of 16 in June 1926 Dad emigrated to Canada aboard the SS. Montclare 鈥� a passenger ship owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Upon arrival in Canada he went to live on his Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Alfred鈥檚 farm in Altario in Alberta.

On 8th March 1928 he enlisted with the Canadian Militia (later known as the Canadian Army) at Esquimalt in British Columbia. As a result he was posted to the well know regiment of Princess Patricias鈥� Canadian Light Infantry 鈥� P.P.C.L.I. During the 1930鈥檚 he rose through the ranks and by January 1939 he was a Sergeant Instructor at P.P.C.L.I.鈥檚 barracks in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the outbreak of the 2nd World War, the Canadian Militia was renamed as the Canadian Army and January 1940 saw Dad posted to the rank of Acting Sergeant Major at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. By December of that year he was promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class 1) and in May 1941 he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, and then commissioned to the rank of Captain with immediate effect. A week later he was confirmed in the rank of Company Sergeant Major.

Throughout the war years, Dad was posted away from his regiment - P.P.C.L.I - to various military establishments across Canada as his trade was that of a Weapons Instructor. He trained Canadian troops to use various weapons common to a light infantry unit 鈥� i.e hand grenades, 4.2-inch mortars, Vickers .303 machine guns, rifles, hand pistols as well as the 17 pounder anti-tank gun.

On 18th December 1944 Dad was posted to Active Duty and embarked for the UK where he arrived one week later on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day he reported for duty at the No.4 Canadian Infantry Training School at Aldershot, Hampshire. It seems that this was his first visit back to the UK in 18 years. There also seems to be evidence that during his stay in England he went back to the village of Cockfield where he was born. While there he met his brothers and sisters 鈥� some of which he had never met as they were born after he went to Canada.

There then starts a curious episode in his life which I have never got to the bottom of.

A few weeks after the war in Europe finished, while in Aldershot, Dad volunteered on 16th May 1945 for service with the Canadian Forces that were still fighting in the Pacific Theatre of war against the Japanese. However, 7 days later he was transferred to he regiment P.P.C.L.I while it was with the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry which had just finished the war only a few weeks earlier somewhere in the Bilthoven area of Holland. It had taken part in the liberation of Rotterdam. 2 days later, on 24th May, Dad embarked for 鈥淣WE鈥� 鈥� North West Europe and was posted as a Company Commander with P.P.C.L.I. He remained in Holland until 9th September of that year, upon which he returned to the UK.

There is absolutely nothing in his army file to say why he was sent off to Holland at such short notice or what he was doing while there. My Mum once told me that he went into Germany while he was there and was involved in something to do with the former Belsen Concentration Camp in northwest Germany. Dad鈥檚 brother says that he was a Census Officer while in Holland 鈥� but I鈥檝e never been able to fully find out what that entailed. A work colleague of mine who was in the army has told me that a Census Officer works at Army Corps level. However my colleague told me that I鈥檒l never find out as to what dad was doing because there will be no written orders/documentation that could be released that would tell me what he was doing as a Census Officer. This may be an answer because as a child I used to ask dad what he did in the war and he would always tell me that he was fighting the Indians back in Canada. As a 4 year-old that seemed perfectly logical to me!!..... after all, all dads are heroes to a 4 year old and they believe everything that their dad tell them! After he died Mum told me that Dad would never speak about what he saw or did while in Holland or Germany. That might explain why he would only tell me stories about Cowboys and Indians in Canada 鈥� he didn鈥檛 want to talk about what he had been involved with.

Another theory is that he was involved in removing V2 rockets, components and their launch sites that were left behind by the Wehrmacht in Holland. This might explain why Dad was posted to Holland immediately as soon as the fighting had stopped and why later on in his army career, he was posted to Fort Churchill on Hudson Bay where the U.S and Canadian Army had a joint rocket testing facility.

As both mum and dad are both dead, I suppose I鈥檒l never find out what he was really doing during those 3 months and 24 days in Holland/Germany.

One other story about Dad, though not related to this particular time period, is that he was assigned as a military bodyguard to William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was the much respected Canadian Prime Minister from 1935 to 1948. The story goes that Dad was on guard duty late one night at Ottawa while the Prime Minister was there when he heard someone approaching from the shadows at the back of the building where he was on guard duty. Dad gave the usual challenge - 鈥淗alt鈥� Who goes there? Friend or Foe?鈥� upon which he was told to, quote - 鈥淏*gger Off!!鈥� Dad proceeded to up the challenge to who ever it was, only to find that it was a Police Officer who was escorting the Prime Minister to a nearby car that was parked well away from sight. According to the story, Mackenzie King commended dad for doing his duty but gave the Police Officer a dressing down for being gobby!!

Anyway, by mid-November 1945 Dad was back in Canada. In September 1946 he relinquished his commissioned rank of Captain and returned to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2. He took up his normal duties as Weapons Instructor at numerous camps across Canada. In October 1949 Dad became a Canadian Citizen and by November 1951 he was back at the Rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 (Regimental Sergeant Major) at the big army establishment at Camp Borden, north of Toronto where he was Garrison Sergeant Major.

After 31 years in the army, Dad finally retired from the Canadian Army on 1st October 1960. By this time Dad had met my Mum - who was born in Ilford, London. Despite no being married, they returned to the UK with my sister and me. In January 1961, we moved to Bournemouth but on the afternoon of Friday, 2nd October 1964 while waiting at a bus stop in Bournemouth Dad suffered a massive heart attack and died on the spot. He was 54. After a post mortem Dad was cremated in full Military Canadian Uniform at the North Cemetery in Bournemouth on the afternoon of Monday, 5th October 1964.

By Patrick George Linsley

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.