Edward John Hoy

Edward Alfred Hoy (“Eddie”), Ted's father, was born in 1898 in Clarksburg, Ontario, just south of Thornbury on Georgian Bay. His father was a farmer who later became a butcher. An older brother named James signed up for World War I but went missing at Ypres in 1916. Eddie, a salesman, joined up in June 1918. He never left Ontario and that November he caught the influenza in the epidemic of the time. He recovered and left the army in February 1919. Another brother owned a service station on Weston Road in Toronto and Eddie lived with him on Mulock Avenue in the Junction neighbourhood. Eddie worked as a barber.

James Hoy (1885-1916), Ted's uncle. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

He met Eda Grace Ristow, a bookkeeper who lived with her widowed mother and siblings at 6 Annette Street, where the Lucy McCormick schoolyard is today. Eda was two year younger than Eddie. They married on June 2, 1923 and moved into the Ristow home. It was there that their first child, Edward Jr was born on September 29, 1924. They called the little boy Ted. Two years later a brother Wilfred was born.

By 1930, the Hoys had bought a house at 809 Windermere Avenue. Ted probably started school at King George school. Eddie was running a barber shop at 221 Mavety Street near Keele and Dundas. Another son, Kenneth Vernon was born in 1930. In 1932 the family moved to 899 Windermere and the next year to 515 Runnymede Road. With this move it is possible that Ted and his brother attended Strathcona school, but more likely they remained at King George.

In 1934 the Hoys moved to 44 Government Road in Lambton Mills and the boys attended the school, Ted most likely entered Grade 4 there. A daughter, Marie Eda, was born. In 1936 the family had left Lambton Mills and moved to Humbervale Road which, according to the city directory, was located near Weston, probably off of Scarlett Road. That same year Eddie bought his business, renaming it Hoy Barber Shop. He would advertise in The Globe and Mail.

By 1941 the family had moved to 44 Maher Avenue and Ted was attending Western Tech. He played baseball, hockey and football and enjoyed reading fiction, building model airplanes and collecting stamps. He also played guitar. Ted left Western Tech when he was sixteen after a year and a half of high school and went to work as an apprentice toolmaker at York Arsenals, a munitions maker on Old Weston Road.

Ted was eager for adventure and enlisted with the army in early January 1943. His recruiting officer described him as having high ability. However, he noted: “He hasn't matured yet, and he has much more to learn than he thinks, but he should develop into a good soldier.” As a toolmaker, Ted could have gone into the army trades, but he wanted to be an infantryman.

He was sent to Brantford for his basic training and in early March he was posted to Camp Borden, near Barrie for infantry training. At the end of April he became a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Highlanders of Canada (the Black Watch). At the time the unit was on home defence in Nova Scotia and he joined them in Halifax on June 6.

Ted had had a few problems with discipline, including a couple of cases of drunkenness, falling asleep in his sentry box and he was docked 14 days' pay for “neglect for the prejudice of good order and military discipline” which took place on June 2. Once in Nova Scotia, his behaviour improved. The battalion was disbanded in August and Ted was transferred to the Victoria Rifles which was based at the large military camp at Sussex, New Brunswick, where the unit trained as part of the 17th Infantry Brigade. Like the Black Watch, the Victoria Rifles were also on home defence duty.

In mid-September Ted was sent to Niagara-on-the-Lake due to appendicitis and he was operated on at the Niagara Military Hospital there. After recuperating, he went to the Casualty Retraining Centre in Oakville. On November 27 he went AWOL for almost 24 hours and forfeited three days' pay. Ted may have been transferred to the camp at Stratford, Ontario. He was granted his annual two week furlough from January 4 to January 17, 1944.

On February 5, Ted returned to the infantry training centre at Camp Borden. On February 17, one of his officers reported that he “shows little interest in Infantry training but he appears to have high ability and should develop normally with further training.” There seems no doubt that Ted was capable and bright, but perhaps he was bored with the discipline of constant training and acted out. He was AWOL again from April 2 to 11 and forfeited more pay. On April 15, an officer noted: “This man possesses superior intelligence but he appears to lack a sense of responsibility.” He was recommended for overseas service and was granted an embarkation furlough from May 1 to May 13, but he was recalled on May 8. On May 14, he was at the camp at Debert, Nova Scotia, a facility which housed troops prior to embarking for Britain. At this time, the Allies in Britain were preparing for the D-Day invasion and reinforcements were shipping overseas. Ted had another discipline infraction on May 27, when he left “a place of parade appointed by his C.O.” Once he departed for Britain, Ted's discipline improved and he apparently had no further reports.

He sailed from Halifax on June 3 and was in the mid-Atlantic when the D-Day operations commenced. He arrived in Britain on June 11 and was assigned to a reinforcement unit. On July 16 he embarked from Britain, probably thinking that he would be sent to France. The ship arrived in Italy on July 29 and he joined the Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment). The unit had seen action at the disastrous Dieppe raid and had been in Italy since the Sicilian invasion in August 1943. The Lorne Scots were part of the 11th Infantry Brigade and the regiment provided ground defence. In battle, the unit would be the last in the order and its purpose was to prevent the enemy from gaining any ground.

When Ted reported for duty on August 18, he found the regiment's headquarters in the northeast, near the Adriatic coast. The Allies were trying to push the Germans north, but the enemy was fiercely defending the factories in northern Italy and the geography of the Apennine mountains made it difficult for the Allies to advance. In August, the Allies were trying to break the Gothic Line, a German defensive line which ran across Italy, south of Rimini on the Adriatic coast and passing just north of Florence in the west. The Lorne Scots and other Canadian troops were required to remove the insignia which identified them as Canadians. The enemy believed that the Canadian presence meant that an offensive was imminent.

Map of Northern Italy, the area near Rimini where Ted fought with the Lorne Scots.

The Allies decided to push north along the coast, to avoid the mountains. The 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade had a few quiet days and moved forward on August 21. They were now able to hear the roar of the guns. On August 23, word reached them that Paris had fallen to the Allies. On August 26, Ted would have seen his first action in the push to cross the Gothic Line. The unit was about 10 kilometres inland from Fano, in the hills. Over the next five days, the Allies would push the Germans north in very heavy fighting. By September 5, the Coriano Ridge had not been taken, preventing the 11th from advancing. Finally on September 14, the ridge fell after a concentrated attack on the 13th.

The unit was given a rest in San Giovanni in Marignano on September 16, to get cleaned up and recover from the battle. The YMCA set up a canteen and a recreation room in the basement of the big house in the town. Over the next few days the men were trucked to the sea for a swim and were able to watch movies. On September 24 the unit moved forward, to the outskirts of Rimini. The town had been taken by the Allies on the 21st. On the 26th, the unit continued to push north and by the 28th, the headquarters was set up on a plain near San Mauro Pascoli, a kilometre from the front line. Heavy rain had begun to fall, rendering the ground muddy and the roads impassable. Ted celebrated his 20th birthday on September 29th. The brigade headquarters was a target for shelling and on the 30th, bombs fell all day. The rain did not let up and attacks were postponed. However, the shelling continued.

On October 3, the rain abated but the enemy continued shelling around midday. After 1400 hrs, Ted, the cook and another soldier were near the door to the troop kitchen. A shell landed at 1410 hrs, killing the cook and wounding Ted and the other soldier. They were taken to the 4th Canadian Field Surgical Unit and Ted was operated on at 2130 hrs. The explosion caught Ted in his middle and his injuries were severe – a lacerated kidney, both thighs wounded and his left sciatic nerve was severed. After the operation, his condition was stable enough to move him on October 12 to the Canadian General Hospital and on October 23 he was in fair condition when he was moved to No. 98 British General Hospital in Bari, 600 kilometres down the Adriatic coast. There he had a further operation on October 30. By November 12 the wounds on his legs had healed, but his general condition was poor and he had no motor improvement.

On December 5 he was moved to No. 15 Canadian General Hospital in Caserta, 20 kilometres north of Naples on Italy's west coast. He died there from his wounds on January 20, 1945 and was buried in the Caserta War Cemetery. On his tombstone is inscribed: “Your memory hallowed in our hearts and in the land you loved. Toronto, Canada.”

Ted's grave, Caserta War Cemetery. Photo: amyers, www.findagrave.com.

Ted's parents remained at 44 Maher until 1951 when they moved to Weston. By the late 1950s they had moved north to Midland. Eda passed away in March 1965 and Eddie followed her in 1975.