George Gregg

In 1910 George William Gregg (George Sr) arrived in Toronto from England to join his brother Albert who had been in the city for three years. The men roomed together in a house at 12 Brooklyn Avenue near Queen and Pape. George had been born in 1885 in Hunslet, Yorkshire and had a sweetheart, Alice Beevers, who had been born there in 1888. Once George was settled in Toronto with a job as a patternmaker, he sent for Alice, who arrived in June 1911. She had been working as a waitress in England and the couple married on November 4 that year.

The couple moved into 206 Campbell Avenue near Dupont and Symington in Toronto's west end. Their first child, Gladys Evelyn was born in August 1912 and was soon followed by William, Ethel and George who was born on February 27, 1919. They had moved to Boston Avenue, again in the Queen and Pape neighbourhood and when George was born, they were living at 233 Cedarvale Avenue. In 1921, they moved up the street to 355 Cedarvale and another son, John, was born in 1924.

George would have started Kindergarten in September 1924 at Danforth Park and graduated in 1933, continuing to Grade 9 at East York. He liked sports. He completed three years of high school, leaving in 1937, then found a job as a stamper at the offices of the Dominion supermarkets, working his way up to a clerk.

In October 1940, thirteen months after the war began, George joined the reserves of the Royal Regiment of Canada, spending evenings and weekends in home defence. He wanted to join the Air Force, but at the time the RCAF was only taking university graduates and men with pilot's licences.

George had a good friend who lived on Oak Park Avenue named Stewart Foster and he and George were dating a pair of sisters who lived in Scarborough on Midland Avenue. Stewart's girlfriend was the older of the two, Laura Wannamaker. George fell in love with Marjory, known as Marge. The couples got engaged and decided to have a double wedding, which took place the evening of July 19, 1941 at the church the Wannamakers attended near Midland and Kingston Road. The couples also had a double honeymoon, a driving trip in Northern Ontario. When they returned, George and Marge moved into a flat at 1060 Woodbine Avenue, north of Glebeholme and which was a ten minute walk to George's parents' house.

George and Marge, circa 1941. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

The double wedding announcement.

On January 27, 1942, George enlisted for active service in the army. He soon became an Acting Lance Corporal and instructed basic training at the camp in Newmarket. Marge gave birth to a son on May 20, 1942, whom they named George and the next month the new father was promoted to Acting Corporal. He had two weeks' furlough in August and vacationed with his family. In November George was recommended for promotion to an officer and he was assessed thus: “One of the top men in the class who displayed marked ability as a leader and instructor.”

The next month George was promoted to Acting Sergeant and sent to Gordon Head, on Vancouver Island for Officers' Training. He graduated as a Second Lieutenant and shipped to Camp Borden near Barrie, Ontario. He was attached to the Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles and promoted to Lieutenant in April 1943.

George, baby George and Marge, 1943. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

In May, he spent another week of leave with Marge and baby George and shipped out the next month for Britain, disembarking on June 18. At the time, the British Isles were filling up with Allied servicemen, training for the upcoming invasion of Europe. By August, George was assigned to the 2nd Canadian Division Support Battalion, a unit which provided machine gun cover for the infantry and of which the Toronto Scottish Regiment was part. George officially joined the Toronto Scottish in March 1944 and was ultimately part of D Company. The Toronto Scottish had been in Britain since December 1939 and had seen action at Dieppe where it had only suffered one casualty. Most of the regiment had been ordered to remain offshore, but the ones who had landed on the beach provided machine gun cover and anti-aircraft fire from their landing barges.

D-Day was June 6, 1944 but the Toronto Scottish didn't leave England until early July. The end of June found them based at Waldershare Park, 8 kilometres inland from Dover. George and D Company left at 0130 hrs in the rain on July 3 and arrived at the docks in Tilbury, near the mouth of the River Thames at 1330 hrs. They boarded the Liberty ship Fort Assiniboine on July 5, and landed in France on July 7 at Juno Beach. By now, the Allies had pushed the Germans back from the beaches of Normandy. Heavy fighting was taking place 20 kilometres inland, around the city of Caen.

George and D Company assembled with the remainder of the regiment in an apple orchard in La Rossière, about 10 kilometres east of Bayeux. They rested there for a few days, preparing for the coming battle. They were issued maps which were studied and future movements were discussed. On July 11, the battalion pulled up stakes, moving out at 0216 hrs. The next day they were north of Rots, a town 8 kilometres northeast of Caen, where the heavy fighting was concentrated. South of Rots was the Carpiquet airfield, which was now held by the Canadians. The Toronto Scottish cut slit trenches for protection and then D Company moved back 3 kilometres to Rosel but the next day they moved forward, near Carpiquet airfield at 0200 hrs.

At the dawn on July 14, D Company was firing their machine guns to harass the enemy. The enemy returned fire, dropping shells and mortars around them. Incongruously, the regiment's war diary states “Picture show in the evening.” The next day there was another middle of the night harassment, completed at 0430 hrs. Twenty seven belts of bullets per gun were fired, each belt containing approximately 250 bullets. On the 16th, they were still in position. That evening, enemy aircraft dropped flares and the company were under heavy fire for thirty minutes, mostly mortars. At 1800 hrs they reported that they had two casualties, both men injured by shrapnel from the mortars. July 17 found D Company continuing its harassing shoot on known enemy positions.

Map of the territory south of Caen. Note St. André-sur-Orne at the bottom. From www.canadiansoldiers.com.

July 18 was the beginning of Operation ATLANTIC, for the Canadians to capture the remaining German positions in the industrial suburbs in the south of Caen. Caen is divided by the Orne River and the object was to push across the river to the Germans. The RAF started bombing southeast of Caen at 0600 hrs and it continued until noon, along with a heavy artillery barrage on the German positions. The 4th Infantry Brigade was pushing toward Louvigny, east of Caen and above the Orne River. D Company was sent to support the attack. Their position was evenutally abandoned and at 2330 hrs they set up near the Carpiquet airfield.

D Company was placed under command of the 6th Brigade and they moved to Caen on July 19, crossing the Orne River at 0100 hrs where they assembled and received orders for the 6th Brigade's attack the next day. They were to support the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada's attack and the occupation of St. André-sur-Orne, a rural village 5 kilometres south of Louvigny.

On July 20, 1944. The Canadian infantry was able to secure a position in St. André-sur-Orne but they became pinned down by German artillery and tanks. George was struck in the chest by a fragment of a mortar bomb and killed, along with a private in the company. Ten other members of the company were wounded or missing. Heavy rain fell later in the day, making the ground muddy and difficult for tanks or infantry to advance across the fields. Several hundred Canadians were killed. The next day the operation proved successful, and the front was stablilized.

George's grave, Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

George is buried in the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France. After George went overseas, Marge and little George moved into 707 Milverton Boulevard. It was Marge's parents' house as they had moved from Midland Avenue. Marge remarried around 1950 to Ross Allan Ellis and she passed away in 2003. George's father passed away in 1947 and his mother lived at 355 Cedarvale until she died in 1968.