Griffontown Remembered

HAPPY FURLONG'S LIFE was saved by a quart of beer. When the elderly carriage driver left his rooming house at the corner of Shannon and Ottawa streets in Montreal's Griffintown shortly after 10 a.m., to buy his favourite ale at the local corner store, he had no idea that an RAF Liberator was about to take off from a supply base in Dorval.

That 25-ton bomber, on a classified mission to Europe on that drizzly spring morning of April 25, 1944, would develop engine trouble as it approached Mount Royal. My uncle, Frank Doyle, then an 11-year-old student in St. Ann's Boys' School, a block from Furlong's flat, remembers how the plane swooped over the school as the pilot made a desperate attempt to reach the river. "We were just coming in after recess," he says. "We heard this big noise, zoom, it shook the place. Brother Edward, our teacher, said, 'Stay here and pray.' " God saved the schoolchildren. The plane missed the school and crashed into the block where Furlong lived. Nine of his neighbours, a beat constable, and the plane's five crew members died.

So the luck of the Irish goes only so far. The plane crash is the worst of many calamities to hit Griffintown. The storied neighbourhood - home to Irish immigrants who fled the potato famines in the 1800s and to several generations of their descendants - has endured floods, fires, riots and strikes. It's a colourful past that has won Griffintown a small, if unhappy, place in the literary imagination…more

Sgt. Eric Frederick Wright

 

Eric was born 22/Dec/1920 to Ernest and Elsie Wright, one of 8 children. Siblings were Howard, John, Joseph, Audrey, Joyce, Dorothy and Mrs. Small. He was a member of the Church of England. Eric worked at Steinbergs Grocery Store.

He enlisted with the Three Rivers Regiment 12th Army Tank on 12/Aug/1940, trained at Camp Borden, ON and was sent to Europe.

Sgt. Wright was Killed In Action on 23/May/1944 in Italy, and is interred at Cassino Military Cemetery.

 

Sgt. Wright was awarded:

1939-1945 Star

Italy Star

Defence Medal

War Medal 1939-1945

CVSM & clasp

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved

Lance Seargeant William Henry Webb

 

L. Sgt. Webb was born 15/Sept/1920 in Montreal to William Henry and Mary Jane Webb, one of 5 children that included John, Robert, Mary, Emily, and Marjorie.

He married Martha and they had two children, Bernard and Beverly. He attended St. George’s church.

He enlisted 8/4/1942 in The Galgary Highlanders, 79th Field Artillery and was KIA (killed in action) 26/Apr/1945 in Germany.

 

L. Sgt. Webb is interred at Holten Canadian Military Cemetery, Netherlands.

The Netherlands fell to the Germans in May 1940 and was not re-entered by Allied forces until September 1944.

The great majority of those buried in Holten Canadian War Cemetery died during the last stages of the war in Holland, during the advance of the Canadian 2nd Corps into northern Germany, and across the Ems in April and the first days of May 1945. After the end of hostilities their remains were brought together into this cemetery.

 

Holten Canadian War Cemetery contains 1,393 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

L. Sgt. Webb was awarded:

1939-1945 Medal

France-Germany star

Defence Medal

War Medal

CVSM w/clasp

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved

 

 

Pvt. John Somma

 

Born in Campobasso, Italy to Luigi and Angelina Somma on 2/Mar/1921, John had two brothers, Guiseppe and Diego, and two sisters, Teresa and Antoinella who became Felicetta of the Filipine Sisters. John attended St. Ann’s and was a tailor by trade.

John enlisted with Les Fusiliers Mont Royal, R.C.I.C. and was listed Missing In Action and then confirmed Killed In Action in France on 19/Aug/1942 and is interred at the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in Normandie, France.

The Dieppe Raid of 18-19 August 1942 was the first large scale daylight assault on a strongly held objective on the Continent since the Allied withdrawal of 1940.

The objectives of the raid were the destruction the Dieppe defences and neighbouring radar and aerodrome installations, the raiding of a German divisional headquarters close by and the capture of prisoners.

 

 

The largely Canadian military force undertook the main assault on Dieppe itself, with flanking assaults by Commando units and additional Canadian battalions to the east and west of the town intended to neutralise batteries that commanded the direct approach. Support was provided by more than 250 naval vessels and 69 air squadrons.

Only the assaulting parties on the extreme flanks came within reasonable reach of their ambitious objectives and casualties were very heavy, with more than 3,600 of the military force of 6,100 killed, wounded, missing or captured. Naval casualties numbered 550.

Many of those who died in the raid are buried at Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, where 948 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War are now buried or commemorated. Other casualties of the raid are at Rouen, where some of the wounded were taken to hospital.

Pvt. Somma was awarded:

1939-1945 Star

Defence Medal

1939-1945 War Medal

CVSM and clasp

 

There is no headstone photograph available.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved

Sgt. Charles. F. Stankus

Charles was born 12/16/1916 in Victoriatown to Kasimiri and Anastasia Stankus, he had one brother, Alphonse. He worked at the Montreal Drydocks doing various jobs, one being a ships riveter.

He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery as a bombadier (gunner) and was sent to the Mediterranan Theatre.



Sgt. Stankus was listed as Missing At Sea on 5/Jul/1943, he left behind a wife, Sophia and son, Charles Joseph.

He was awarded:

1939-1945 Star
Italy Star
Defence Medal
War Medal
CVSM & clasp

Sgt. Stankus is interred at Cassino War Cemetery in the Commune of Cassino, Province of Frosinone, 139 kilometres south-east of Rome. Panel 14.

The site for Cassino War Cemetery was originally selected in January 1944, but the development of the battle during the first five months of that year made it impossible to use it until after the Germans had withdrawn from Cassino.

During these early months of 1944, Cassino saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Italian campaign, the town itself and the dominating Monastery Hill proving the most stubborn obstacles encountered in the advance towards Rome.

The majority of those buried in the war cemetery died in the battles during these months.


There are now 4,266 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Cassino War Cemetery. 284 of the burials are unidentified.

Within the cemetery stands the CASSINO MEMORIAL which commemorates over 4,000 Commonwealth servicemen who took part in the Italian campaign and whose graves are not known. The Memorial was designed by Louis de Soissons and unveiled by Field Marshal The Rt. Hon. The Earl Alexander of Tunis on 30 September 1956.

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved

Sgt. Robert Michael Pitts

 

Robert was born 7/May/1923 to Robert Pitts and Margaret French, the eldest of 5 children in Pte. St. Charles. He attended St. Ann’s Boy’s School and was active in many sports including swimming, skating, bowling, and baseball. He worked in the assessor’s office for the City of Montreal. He also took 3 years of technical school.

Robert enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a wireless operator and served in England.

 

Sgt. Pitts aircraft disappeared somewhere over England while on a night training mission. None of the crew nor the plane were ever found.

 

Sgt. Robert Michael Pitts
Missing On Active Service

Sgt. Pitts is memorialized at Runnymede Memorial – Panel 256

This Memorial overlooks the River Thames on Cooper's Hill at Englefield Green between Windsor and Egham on the A308, 4 miles from Windsor.

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede commemorates by name over 20,000 airmen who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves.

They served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands, and came from all parts of the Commonwealth.

Some were from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to fight in the ranks of the Royal Air Force.

The memorial was designed by Sir Edward Maufe with sculpture by Vernon Hill. The engraved glass and painted ceilings were designed by John Hutton and the poem engraved on the gallery window was written by Paul H Scott.

The Memorial was unveiled by The Queen on 17 October 1953.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved

Lance Corporal W. Ralph Mathers

W.R. Mathers was born 12/Oct/1922 to Thomas and Isabella Mathers, the eldest of 4 children that included Edward, Mary, and Rita.

He was an electrician by trade and in high school played the clarinet with the Kiwanis Band for 2 years.

Mathers enlisted with the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards R.C.A.C. and fought in the Mediterranean Theatre. He was grievously wounded, lying in the hospital for day before succumbing to his wounds on 16/Dec/1944.

He was interred in the Coriano Ridge British Empire Cemetery now called the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery, 2 miles north of Coriano, Italy.

Coriano Ridge was the last important ridge in the way of the Allied advance in the Adriatic sector in the autumn of 1944. Its capture was the key to Rimini and eventually to the River Po. German parachute and panzer troops, aided by bad weather, resisted all attacks on their positions between 4 and 12 September 1944.

On the night of 12 September the Eighth Army reopened its attack on the Ridge, with the 1st British and 5th Canadian Armoured Divisions. This attack was successful in taking the Ridge, but marked the beginning of a week of the heaviest fighting experienced since Cassino in May, with daily losses for the Eighth Army of some 150 killed.






The site for the cemetery was selected in April 1945 and was created from graves brought in from the surrounding battlefields.
Coriano Ridge War Cemetery contains 1,939 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

L. Cpl. W, Ralph Mathers was awarded the:

1939-1945 Star

Italy star

Defence Medal

War Medal 1939-1945

CVSM with clasp

There is no headstone photo available at this time.

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
All Rights Reserved