(Albert Lea's name is not on the Norway Honour Roll, but is on Riverdale C.I.'s.)

 

Albert Lea's family lived in Windsor when he was born on August 5, 1915. His father Percy Hinton Lea (b. 1882) worked for London Life Insurance and came from an English/Welsh family that immigrated to a farm near London, Ontario in the mid-1870s. Albert's mother Sarah Margaret McRae was born in 1883 in Dunwich, Ontario, southwest of London near Lake Erie. Her family were also farmers and when her father died, her mother ran their farm. The family may have lived for a few years in Winnipeg around 1906 . In 1920, Percy moved to the Toronto office of the insurance company and the family were the first owners of 137 Glenmore Road. There were two daughters, Effie and Margaret, the former born in Windsor in 1918 and the latter in Toronto in the early 1920s.

 

Albert started at Norway and when he graduated in about 1929, he attended Riverdale Collegiate. He played flying wing on the school's football team and won the senior championship for track and field in his last year at the school. He may also have been an army cadet during high school. By 1935 Albert had graduated and was working in the Dominion Bank at Queen Street and Lee Avenue. Two years later he was a ledger keeper at Dominion's branch at 1517 Gerrard Street East which was near the southwest corner of Coxwell and Gerrard.

 

In 1938 Albert married a neighbourhood girl, Lorraine Devereux Arrowsmith, whose family had been living since 1929 near Bowmore school, at 21 Wrenson Road. The couple moved in with Albert's parents who moved that year to 7 Idyllwood Crescent near High Park. Albert also started a new job with The Northern Electric Company which was an electrical equipment manufacturer, mainly for Bell Telephone. It later became known as Nortel. Soon he and Lorraine were living in Port Credit. In 1940 they welcomed their first child, Ross Alexander Albert, whom they nicknamed Sandy.

 

The next year, 1941, Albert transferred to the Sudbury branch of Northern Electric to be the local office and service manager. The family lived in downtown Sudbury, at 117 Cedar Street. Albert enjoyed hunting, which was abundant in the woods outside of Sudbury. Brian Robert Edward, their second son, was born that year. In December, Albert joined the reserve unit of the Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury Regiment with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Albert's hair had turned prematurely grey and this gave him an air of authority.

 

Albert enlisted in the army in Toronto on October 10, 1942. During Albert's service, Lorraine remained with the little boys on Cedar Street. Albert fully intended to return to his job in Sudbury after the war. Within a week of joining up, Albert was in officers' training in Brockville and at Camp Borden in February 1943, he was promoted to Lieutenant. He shipped to Britain in June and had remained in an officers' pool, but once he disembarked, he joined the Toronto Scottish Regiment. It was a machine gun battalion that been in Britain since December 1939 and had taken part in the Dieppe raid on August 19, 1942. When Albert joined it was training for the invasion of Europe as machine gun support for infantry units.

 

Albert took a tactical course that year and his instructor described him as “respectful, fairly helpful, considerate and co-operative.... Is a responsible, conscientious officer who can be relied upon.” It was felt that Albert was qualified to lead an infantry company or a platoon.

 

On July 7, 1944, Albert and his company landed on Juno Beach, at Courseulles-sur-Mer. A portion of the regiment had disembarked the previous day and was part of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. D-Day had been a month before but heavy fighting continued as the German tanks continued to hold the city of Caen, 20 kilometres inland. During the night of the 7th, the city endured a massive Allied bombing raid. The Germans withdrew and the Carpiquet airfield to the west was cleared. The Toronto Scottish saw its first action on July 13 near the airfield as enemy mortars exploded around them. The next night the regiment fired on enemy positions, using over 160,000 rounds of ammunition in their machine guns. On the 17th, the regiment moved into Fleury-sur-Orne, just south of Caen, where a bridgehead was established. By the 20th, the regiment was supporting infantry and the push was on to take St. André-sur-Orne, a village two kilometres south down the Orne valley. Although The Toronto Scottish had some losses, the infantry slowly advanced through the wheat fields, vigilant for enemy snipers and by evening had a toe hold in St. André. The Toronto Scottish companies were spread along a line east and west of the town of Ifs, a kilometre east of Fleury-sur-Orne, providing machine gun support to three infantry brigades. The front was stationary until the 25th, when there was another push another two kilometres along the Orne valley to take May-sur-Orne. The enemy launched air attacks on the positions of The Toronto Scottish and Albert was killed along with five other men of the regiment. It was one of the bloodiest days of the war, also killing fellow Norway alumnus Charles Rumley.

 

Albert is buried in Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian Cemetery. Percy passed away in 1957 and Sarah followed in 1961. After Albert's death, Lorraine, Sandy and Brian moved into her family house on Wrenson Road, where she was still living in 1969. She passed away in 1995.