Documenting the WWII Fallen of Toronto's Elementary Schools
Victor Leslie "Pat" Panes
Pat's father Edward Charles Panes was born in Bristol, England in 1878. He was a wood turner and machinist who married Lottie Anne Fogdon (born 1879) in Bristol's St. Silas' Church on October 23, 1898. They moved to Toronto around 1907 with their four children, Elsie (b. 1899), Frank (b. 1903), Kate (b. 1904) and Eileen (b. 1906) and settled on what is now Labatt Avenue near Queen Street East and Dundas. They were the only Panes family in Toronto until at least the 1960s. Edward was working as a shaper for the Toronto Show Case Company. By 1912, they were living in the Cedarvale neighbourhood, at 97 Cedarvale Avenue, a house which is no longer there, but was located a few doors north of Danforth Avenue. Edward Jr was born in 1909, followed by Margaret in 1910 and Harold in 1911.
Before World War I broke out in 1914, Edward Sr had become a tenant farmer in Orono, Ontario, northeast of Bowmanville. Edward enlisted in the army in January 1916 while Lottie was pregnant. He was 37, about 15 years older than most recruits. Lottie gave birth to a daughter in the spring. Edward sailed for Liverpool in September, arriving on October 10. A few weeks later he had word that his baby daughter had died on October 21. Edward never saw action in France, in fact he never left England. By November 1917, he had been invalided back to Canada, due to age related infirmities. Lottie and the children were living at 159 Hillingdon Avenue near Coxwell and Danforth.
The family moved to Caledon to farm on Campbell's Cross Farm near Inglewood. It is probable that they were still tenant farmers. Pat was born on the farm on March 17, 1921 and because he was born on St. Patrick's Day, he was ultimately nicknamed “Pat.” He would have been taught in a school house in the area. In 1930, Lottie suffered a stroke and died in Toronto General Hospital on October 30. By this time, Pat's three brothers had moved to Toronto to work, all of them eventually living in the Cedarvale/Little York neighbourhood on Wallington Avenue, Westbrook Avenue and Secord Avenues. It is uncertain whether the family moved in with one of the brothers or whether Pat and his father lived alone together at 255 Chisholm Avenue.
Pat started at Danforth Park school sometime between Grade 3 and Grade 6, attending until Grade 8, in 1935. He never went to high school. Edward Sr eventually remarried Amelia Smalley, an English widow who had a son, Ronald, who was a year older than Pat. The Smalleys had come to Canada in the early 1920s and had lived in the Unionville area.
Pat went to work and in 1940 he was living on Dundas Street West near Lansdowne. It was a short walk to his job at Wonder Bakeries on Dovercourt, where he was a helper. On his enlistment papers, Pat stated that he had been a machinist for two years and had been a stock keeper for a year and a half before that. On January 6, 1942, Pat enlisted in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps as a metal group tradesman. He was living at 142 Springdale Boulevard, which was the house of the parents of his girlfriend, Clara Prudence “Pru” Young. She was a year older than Pat. Pat's stepbrother Ronald had also joined up, in the RCAF.
Pat and Pru, May 1942. Source: www.facestograves.nl, Whittick (Panes) family collection.
On February 7, 1942 Pat left for basic training in Brantford but two months later he was back in Toronto at the district depot for vocational training. He asked Pru to marry him and they wed on May 2. They delayed their honeymoon until July 15, when Pat had two weeks' leave. After his leave, Pat attended the Canadian Army Trades School in Hamilton. In November he became a qualified fitter and was promoted to Acting Corporal. A fitter is someone who can service vehicles and equipment and is able to fabricate some parts for machines. Pat celebrated New Year's 1943 with Pru. He soon became an instructor on instruments for the army. A few months later, Pru gave him the joyful news that she was pregnant. On August 20 Pat was transferred to the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps in anticipation of being sent to Britain. On September 1 Pat became a Sergeant and on October 22 he shipped out of Halifax, arriving in Britain on October 29. He trained on guns and learned how to fight in battle. On December 8 he joined the 28th Canadian Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Regiment) which was camped near Crowborough, Sussex in the south of England. This was a tank unit and Pat was part of the team that kept the tanks functioning. During his leaves he was able to visit two aunts who lived in Bristol.
Pru and Earl, ca. 1945. Source: www.facestograves.nl, Whittick (Panes) family collection.
On February 9, 1944, his son Earl Douglas was born in Toronto. Pat received a telegram with the news and it was announced in the mess hall with many congratulations and free drinks for the father.
Field Marshall Montgomery visited the camp at the end of February and gave a morale-raising speech. Less than two weeks later, King George VI reviewed the troops and on May 17, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King also visited the camp. American General Eisenhower inspected them on May 29, leading everyone to think that an invasion of Europe was close at hand. The British Columbia Regiment wasn't part of the June 6 D-Day landings, but Pat arrived with the regiment in France on July 27 as a member of “B” Squadron. By this point the war was raging 25 kilometres inland, south of the town of Caen. The next day the regiment was stationed 3.5 kilometres southeast of Caen. The men slept in slit trenches and under their tanks, sheltering from German artillery. For the next few days the regiment was kept in reserve and the days were spent doing reconnaissance patrols and adding extra armour to the tanks. The regiment was being fired upon by enemy artillery and the tanks returned fire. The Canadians had planned Operation TOTALIZE, to capture high ground north of Falaise, farther south. The operation began on August 8, spearheaded by the tanks of the Canadian Armoured Corps.
Pat beside his tank, “ITS THE BEGINNING OF THE END.” Source: www.facestograves.nl, Whittick (Panes) family collection.
In the Allied army, each tank squadron was divided into five troops and each troop was comprised of three tanks. In the British Columbia Regiment, it was deemed that each troop would carry one fitter as they went into battle and Pat was part of a B Squadron troop. Pat's tank had “IT'S THE BEGINNING TO THE END” painted down its side. During the early hours of August 8, the regiment started forward but by the evening the tanks were stalled while they waited for the air force to bomb the enemy. Early in the morning of August 9, the counter-attack began. Pat's squadron remained behind while the rest accompanied several companies of the Algonquin Regiment. In trying to go around the occupied village of Bretteville-le-Rabet, their leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Donald Worthington chose to move quickly and didn't stop to check his position. He didn't realize that he was on the wrong road and when the group captured the hill it thought was the objective, it was actually a hill six kilometres east. Back-up never arrived and the Germans decimated the two regiments, killing Worthington among many others.
B Squadron along with a company of the Algonquin Regiment were to follow behind the main force but they were cut off from it when enemy tanks opened fire near Estrées-la-Campagne, and the tanks were sitting ducks. Those whose tanks were damaged, abandoned them and ran. (It should be noted that Danforth Park alumnus George Ford was a member of the Algonquin Regiment in this battle.) At the end of the day, the British Columbia Regiment had lost 46 tanks and were left with 12. As the regiment's war diary documented: “This, our first day in battle, had been an extremely costly one....”
The surviving tanks were sent forward into battle while the tank-less men remained behind. On August 12, Pat narrowly escaped injury when an enemy artillery shell fell among the fitters, killing one and injuring three. Ten replacement tanks arrived the next day and were prepped for battle. On the 14th, they moved forward without incident. Within a week the regiment was part of the left flanking attack on Falaise and the Germans were surrendering, streaming past the regiment as prisoners.
On the 24th, the focus of the war had shifted to the Seine River area and the regiment moved 80 kilometres northeast at top speed. In the town of Bernay, the regiment's war diary noted that “the crowds of civilians prevented the lead tanks from progression. French flags were in evidence everywhere. Church bells were pealing, and a huge French flag was placed in the A/A (anti-aircraft) mount of the lead tank, as it proceeded through the street. Cider and wine was literally flowing in the streets, they were so anxious to give it to us to show their appreciation.” On the 25th, the regiment reached the Seine. The American troops liberated Paris. On the 28th, the regiment crossed the Seine and the enemy was rapidly being pushed back towards the Belgian border. Occasionally the regiment came under heavy artillery fire from the retreating Germans.
On September 7, the British Columbia Regiment crossed into Belgium without incident and by the end of the month were within four kilometres of the Dutch border. On October 15, they moved to a position north of Antwerp. The Battle of the Scheldt had started. The objective was to take control of the estuary which led to Antwerp and open up a new supply line for the Allies pushing north. Up to this point, most supplies were still flowing from the Normandy beaches. The Germans had been told to fight to the death and had flooded the fields along the estuary. The regiment moved north, part of the brigade which was trying to cut off the Germans who were stationed on the South Beveland peninsula, along the north shore of the estuary.
The regiment crossed the border into the Netherlands on October 27 and Pat's squadron continued to support the Algonquins into early November. They moved north of the port town of Bergen-op-Zoom. On November 16, B and C Squadrons were moved close to the Maas River to support The Lincoln and Welland Regiment. The Germans were well entrenched on the other side of the river. The attack didn't go as planned and the squadrons returned to the unit. As the month continued, each squadron took turns firing on enemy positions and as November drew to a close, the regiment was given a rest period which was filled with training to sharpen their skills. December was quiet save for sporadic fire from the enemy and keeping watch for a possible paratroop attack. Pat was reclassified as a vehicle mechanic on December 12.
The regiment moved to the village of Udenhout on January 10, 1945 and a gunnery range was set up. On February 8, the Allied forces began the push towards the Rhine River, to force the Germans across it. The regiment remained in the Udenhout area, but Pat sustained some sort of injury on the 8th which required an ambulance to take him to the casualty clearing station. He was released back to the regiment by the end of the day. On February 24, the regiment moved to Germany, outside the town of Cleve and many thought it was going to be another bloody battle like the one for Caen. Their objective was the high ground northeast of the town of Uden. On the 26th the regiment attacked and by nightfall it was successful. It hadn't been easy as the seasonal thaw had turned the ground to mud. Pat wrote home about the conditions. He kept an abandoned parachute in his tank for a ground sheet and eventually used an old bed-spring to keep him off the ground when he slept.
By March 6, the German hold on the Rhine River was almost lost. The village of Veen was strongly held by the German Parachute Army Assault Battalion. The British Columbia Regiment was to attack south of the village with The Lincoln and Welland Regiment. The advance started at 1600 hrs on March 7 and they captured a crossroads one and a half kilometres south of the village. The weather on the 8th was drizzly, and for the entire day the Germans kept the Canadians pinned down with persistent fire. The German anti-tank guns were accurately hitting the vehicles. During the night the enemy withdrew and by next morning, the Canadians had taken Veen.
Pat's grave, Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. Photo: http://lestweforget1945.org.
On the 8th , The British Columbia Regiment were called out to recover three tanks that were stuck; one had been hit by a rocket. The countryside at that time was wet and very muddy. The Unit recovered the tanks and were on their way back when they came across two
bulldozers stuck in a field, so Pat’s outfit went in to help. Everyone worked to get the bulldozers out. Unfortunately, one of the tanks slid a couple of inches sideways and drove over a landmine. It blew up and five links of the tank track flew through the air and hit Pat,
who was standing about a hundred feet away, square in the chest. They rushed Pat by ambulance to an emergency field hospital. He received medical treatment, including a blood transfusion and was sent by ambulance to another hospital in Cleve. Pat was in bad condition and was saying he couldn’t breathe. The ambulance was travelling in a convoy, but the road ahead was jammed with vehicles. They had to turn around and go back a distance and cut across the country, in a round about way, to get to the hospital. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Pat was pronounced dead. (From Pat's biography on www.facestograves.nl.)
Pst is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. The RCAF City of Calgary Air Cadets has an award named in his honour which is awarded every year to the squadron's top officer. Pat's stepbrother Ronald Smalley had been missing since July 1944, and ultimately was declared killed as part of an RCAF bomber crew. In 1946, Pru and and her son Earl moved to Oshawa. Pru married William Whittick in the early 1950s and passed away in Oshawa in 2013. Edward Panes passed away in a nursing home in Peel in 1968.