Norman Arthur Webb

(Not on Norway's Roll of Honour, but is commemorated on Danforth Tech's 2023 additional Honour Roll plaque.)

Norman Webb's father John Arthur Webb was a grocer in Grimsby, a port town on the east coast of England. He was born in 1883, the son of a fisherman and on December 26, 1908 he married Beatrice Kessell, the daughter of Robert Edmund Kessell, a house painter. Beatrice was born in Grimsby in 1885. They had a daughter, Gladys, in 1910. Two of Beatrice's brothers had moved to Toronto and in May 1912, the Webbs and Beatrice's parents emigrated to Canada together. John soon bought a newly built house at 342 Waverley Road and the Webbs shared the home with Beatrice's parents.

John Webb was working as a shoe salesman when Norman was born on June 23, 1914. Two years later, a sister, Dorothy Mildred arrived. Norman started Kindergarten at Norway in 1919 and in 1925 the Webbs moved out of Robert's home to a newly built house at 23 Haslett Avenue. John was working as a grocer again at a market near Queen and Bathurst. The family experienced a sad time in 1927 when a daughter was born disabled and died the next year. Norman graduated from Norway in 1928 and went to tech school, presumably Danforth, for Drafting. Basketball, baseball and volleyball were his favourite sports. He bowled, played billiards and liked to fish. He also had a passing interest in music and could strum some songs on guitar.

After two years, Norman had to leave school to work. In the early 1930s, John took over ownership of a small grocery store at 1618 Gerrard Street East, a few doors west of Coxwell. Norman started working in his father's store. Tragedy struck the Webbs when John died in 1935. Norman and the family ran the store for another three years and then sold the business. From 1938, Norman did odd jobs as a sub-contractor and in 1941 he was employed as a deliveryman for an advertising agency. By the late 1930s, his grandfather Robert had moved in with the family.

When war was declared, Norman soon joined the reserves of the Queen's York Rangers, a regiment which had a role in home defence. He enlisted with the Rangers on March 18, 1942, with the hope that he could become a military policeman and not be sent overseas. The army had other ideas and made him an infantryman. He trained at Camp Borden, near Barrie and at Chippewa Barracks in North Bay. He was transferred to The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, nicknamed “The Lincs.” In July 1943, the regiment shipped overseas and disembarked at Gourock, Scotland. The next year was spent training for the coming invasion of Europe.

The regiment landed in France on July 24, 1944, almost seven weeks after D-Day. Fighting was raging 15 kilometres inland around the city of Caen and the regiment joined the battle. By the beginning of August, the Germans were being pushed back and Norman's regiment took part in the fighting at Falaise, another 25 kilometres inland. It was Operation Totalize, planned by the Canadians. The object was to capture high ground north of Falaise. The Canadians made a unique night attack using Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers. The operation started on August 7 and by August 10 the hill was captured. On August 17, Falaise was in the hands of the Allies and four days later, the Battle of Normandy was over. The regiment pushed north towards Belgium and were part of the Seine crossing between August 25 and 28. In C.P. Stacey's Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III: The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45 (Otttawa, ON: Queen's Printer, 1960), he wrote: At 5 p.m. on 26 August the scout platoon and "D" Company of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, using shovels as paddles to propel a small, boat, crossed the Seine near Criquebeuf, above Elbeuf, and took up a position on the far shore. They were the first Canadians across the river.

Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier. United Kingdom Government photo.

They had been under heavy shelling from the Germans on high ground across the river, but the entire regiment crossed shortly after dark on the 26th. The German forces were spread thin by the time the Americans had liberated Paris on the 25th and the push north met with little resistance.

By September 9, the Canadians had quickly moved north into Belgium and the Lincoln and Welland Regiment next fought in the Battle of Moerbrugge. The Ghent Canal, 5 kilometres south of Bruges, was to be crossed. The battle had started the previous day as the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada crossed the canal. The Germans counter-attacked, trying to prevent the Canadians from building a bridge and when the Lincs crossed on the 9th to join the Argylls, they endured heavy fighting. By the 10th, the bridge was built, enabling the remainder of the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade to cross and capture the Germans.

As the Allies pushed inland, it became imperative to capture ports along the coast, especially Europe's second largest port at Antwerp, Belgium near the Dutch border because the supply lines were necessary to provide for the Allied forces in the upcoming winter. For too long a time, the only supply lines led back to the ports of Normandy. The Schedlt river connected Antwerp to the North Sea, about 80 kilometres away and was held by the Germans. By September 3, the Allies had liberated Antwerp, before the Germans had the opportunity to destroy the port. The Canadians were tasked with liberating the Schedlt, but the unique geography was a challenge. The Germans held a stronghold north of the estuary on the island of Walcheren, next to the South Beveland peninsula and Hitler ordered them to fight to the death. The south bank was dyked flat fields which allowed the Germans to see anything advancing. Field Marshall Montgomery, the commander of the First Canadian and Second British Armies made the Scheldt offensive the army's top priority.

Battle of the Schedlt. From www.canadainternational.gc.ca.

Many of the dykes were bombed, flooding the fields and soldiers had to wade through the water or ride in amphibious vehicles. As some Canadian troops fought along the south of the estuary, more forces were to concentrate at the neck of the South Beveland peninsula, essentially cutting off the Germans on Walcheren. On October 22, the Lincs and the Algonquin Regiment took Essen in a surprise attack. This was 30 kilometres north of Antwerp. The next few days' fighting was nightmarish. One company of the Lincs lost half of its men in a day. The Germans had scattered land mines everywhere and they had pulled back to a line behind the Dutch town of Bergen-op-Zoom on the coast, just north of the South Beveland peninsula. On October 27, the Lincs and the South Alberta Regiment entered the town and in heavy fighting, liberated a section of it, much to the joy of the inhabitants.

The regiment remained in the town until November 2. That evening, plans were made to take Steenbergen, seven kilometres north. At 1700 hrs the push began, the Lincs advancing with the Algonquin Regiment to a determined point along the road. By 2005 hrs they reached their objective, but came under heavy fire. One company of the Lincs was caught with a German tank gun shooting point blank behind them. By 2300 hrs the Lincs made a tactical withdrawal. It was during these attacks, after months of advancing and fighting, that Norman Webb was killed.

He is buried in the Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery. To this day, the people of Bergen-op-Zoom are grateful for the efforts of the Canadians. They visit and decorate the graves especially every May 4 on the eve of Dutch Liberation Day.

Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, Christmas 2019. Photo: Dick Vermaas from Lichtjes Canadese en Britse Oorlogsbegraafplaats Bergen op Zoom Facebook page.

Beatrice Webb continued to live at 23 Haslett Avenue until her death in 1972.

(Another member of Norway's Honour Roll, Clifford Raymond Andrews, lived across the street at 24 Haslett.)