Documenting the WWII Fallen of Toronto's Elementary Schools
Roy Elson Walker
Roy Walker's father Harold was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England in 1888. He came to Toronto in 1907 and was a lather, which was a person who applied flat strips of wood to walls which provided a foundation for the wall plaster. He had married Florence Blanche Elson in February 1910. Florence was born in 1891 in Leicester, England, the daughter of a coachman and she came to Canada with her family the same year as Harold. Later in 1910 Harold and Florence had a son they named John Edward. In 1912 a second son arrived whom they called Harold Junior and another son named Oscar Frank was born in 1914. Harold Senior left his wife and sons to fight for the Canadian forces in the First World War. In February 1918 he was gassed in France and his lungs were never the same afterwards.
Roy was born January 18, 1921. His youngest brother, Desmond William arrived in 1923. By 1928 the family was living at 2058 Gerrard Street East, near Golfview Avenue and Harold's father was working as an assistant shipper for a company that made bank safes. They were members of St. John's Norway church.
The gassing took a slow toll on Harold's lungs. He died in the Hamilton Sanatorium on August 26, 1931 when Roy was 10. The sanatorium took tuberculosis cases and veterans with lung troubles.
Roy graduated from Norway in 1935 and attended Malvern C. I. After three years he left school and was a clerk at Giles, Rice and Peters, a car dealership that was at Main Street and Danforth. The dealership eventually became City Buick. On September 6, 1939, three days after war broke out, Roy enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Canada, also known as the Royal Grenadiers. His brother Oscar had been in the reserves with the Royal Regiment and he enlisted with Roy on the same day.
After basic training in Canada, the Royal Regiment shipped out to Iceland for garrison duty in June 1940. Iceland was a strategic location during the war and an Allied presence was necessary. It was also a busy refuelling air field for trans-Atlantic flights. After four months in Iceland, Roy and Oscar landed in England where training began for an Allied invasion of Europe. After Dunkirk in June 1940, when the British troops were evacuated out of France, the Germans occupied practically all of Europe. The Allies planned a raid to get a toehold in France.
The regiment and many others had been training for months for the “Jubilee” operation which was to be an assault on the beach of Dieppe, France. By July 26, 1942, Roy had been promoted to Sergeant.
From: www.veterans.gc.ca.
On the morning of August 19, 1942 the Dieppe Raid took place. Over 5000 Canadians, 1000 British commandos and 50 American troops sailed across the English Channel, to attack just before dawn. The forces were to land at five different points on a 16 kilometre long front. Roy and Oscar, as part of the Royal Regiment, along with the Black Watch of Canada and an artillery detachment, were to attack at Puys on the eastern flank. Their objective was to take out the machine gun and artillery batteries protecting the beach. The beach where the regiment was to land was very narrow and there was a seawall with barbed wire. Above loomed high cliffs where the enemy was strategically placed. For a successful raid, the Canadians needed surprise and darkness and they got neither. The landing was delayed by 20 minutes. The smoke screen had lifted and the Germans had adequate time to prepare for the landing. As the regiment leapt ashore in the dawn light, they were met with a hail of machine gun fire. Only a few men succeeded in getting over the seawall, but those who did were unable to retreat. The rest of the men were trapped on the beach and were later forced to surrender. Due to the German guns, they couldn't be evacuated. Of those who landed, 200 of the regiment were killed and 264 were taken prisoner. This was the heaviest toll suffered by a Canadian battalion in a single day in the entire war. Of the 6,086 who made it ashore in the Dieppe Raid, 3,623 were either killed, wounded or captured – a 68% casualty rate.
Two weeks later, Roy and Oscar's mother Florence received letters to tell her that both her sons were missing in action. It was eleven years to the day of her husband's death. By September 21 she received the news that Oscar was alive but had been taken prisoner. After months of waiting, on December 5 she received the news that Roy had been killed at Dieppe. He was 21 years old.
Roy's grave, Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
He is buried in the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery. Florence lived at 2058 Gerrard until 1944 and passed away the next year. Roy's younger brother Desmond named one of his sons Roy.