Somebody please help

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by davlew25
Hi everybody, I finally got in touch with a WW2 tanker buff up at Borden. He told me that my uncle was definitely in the Ontario Regiment. He said that back then and even now, a lot of members of that regiment just called it Ontario Tank, hence the confusion. He did go in at Juno Beach on D-Day and his Regiment fought in the battle for Caen.

davlew25;

Your WW2 tanker buff up at Borden is full of S**T or has taken it upon himself to rewrite history. The 11th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Ontario Regiment) never landed on D-Day in Normandy, nor did they fight in any of the battles for Caen and for that matter, they never saw any action in Normandy, for the simply reason, that at the time of the D-Day landings and the battles for Caen, they were still down in Italy with the rest of the 1st Canadian Corps and the Ontario Regiment did not arriive in North-West Europe until March of 1945, when the 1st Cdn Corps came up from Italy to rejoin First Canadian Army in North-West Europe. The following link is to the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association website and a Historical Sketch of the Ontario Regiment in the Second World War, read it for yourself.

http://www.rcaca.org/r-Ontarios.htm

[davlew25]

Well, I guess it's back to the drawing board. I don't know why this guy would lie to me, I've never met him and he seemed like he knew what he was talking about on the phone. I guess I won't find out anything until the government answers my request for information. Unfortunately by that time it will be to late to finish this painting for his birthday. Thanks for the info.

[Mark W. Tonner]

davlew25;

Just to clarify who landed on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944, I've attached a basic map of Juno showing which Canadian Units landed where. (This map is from the Official History of The Canadian Army in the Second World War, Volume III: The Victory Campaign, The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945).
You'll notice that the Armoured Regiments supporting the Infantry Brigades are all from the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade:

6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (First Hussars)
10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse)
27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment)

The 11th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Ontario Regiment) belonged to the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, who were still fighting in Italy at the time of the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. Just so you'll know, 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade was made up of the following Armoured Regiments in 1944-1945:

11th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Ontario Regiment)
12th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Three Rivers Regiment)
14th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Calgary Regiment)

Hope this helps.

[Michael Reintjes]

I still think this chap was working for Bear Lewis.This would explain both his D Day experience and his " SUPPLY" job to some 2nd Armoured Brigade Units.Does he talk of Italy at all? Bear Lewis and alot of "C" Sdn guys did not go to Italy with the rest of the Elgins.Wish I could see his records.Now I,m severly intrigued....Damn!

[davlew25]

I have written a request application to the national archives as someone had told me to do in an earlier post. I will get my uncle to sign it and fax it in to them. I will post as soon as I get something back. I just got something from him the other day, very interesting. A cigar box filled with a lot of old pictures of him and some buddies that were in England together. Unfortunately, I can't read anything on the uniform that would say what unit he was in. I can scan them and put some in if anyone might be able to figure something out. Let me know. He also gave me a book that was from Base Borden while he was there. It shows all of the weapons he had been trained and qualified on, very old but in great shape. Something I will keep safe.