Roy Edward Wilmot

Roy Wilmot's father, Edward Arthur Wilmot, known as Teddy, arrived in Toronto in May 1913 from England. He was a seventeen year old Londoner. His father had died and Teddy was finding a place for his family to live. His mother brought his two siblings, Ivy, aged 14 and Henry, aged 7, to Toronto the next month. Teddy was a labourer and also worked as a groom. Roy's mother, Semeina (also spelled Somena) Myrtle Hurst (Myrtle) was Toronto born (1902), growing up near today's Broadview Avenue and Dundas Street. When her father died in 1911, he had worked in the printing department of The Globe newspaper for thirty years.

Teddy enlisted in the Canadian army in World War I and spent four years in France, avoiding injury. He acquired acute bronchitis in the trenches and returned to Toronto in early 1919. He found work with the British-American Oil Company, a Toronto oil company which had been founded in 1906 and as Canadians began to buy cars and heat their houses with oil, the company mushroomed within thirty years to own a fleet of Great Lakes tankers, providing gasoline and motor oil to Canadians. The company eventually became part of Gulf Oil. Teddy worked in the company's Toronto refinery which was at the foot of Cherry Street.

Teddy and Myrtle married on April 7, 1924 in Sandwich, Ontario, near Windsor. They appear either to have eloped or they had a “destination wedding.” Myrtle was working as a telephone operator. They rented an apartment on Myrtle's childhood street. Roy was born on May 11, 1925 and the family moved around the Riverdale neighbourhood, living at a few addresses on Broadview Avenue until they bought 282 Westlake Avenue in 1930. Roy started school at Danforth Park in either 1930 or 1931 and a sister, Helen, was born in 1932. (Roy's mother claimed that he also attended RH McGregor school.) That year Teddy transferred to British-American's facility in Montreal and Roy went to school in East Montreal, leaving school part way through Grade 9. The family rented out their Toronto house while they were gone. Another daughter was born in Montreal circa 1937 and was named Shirley.

Roy with his sisters Shirley and Helen, circa 1939. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

In 1939 the family returned to 282 Westlake Avenue. The next year they moved to 182 Westlake in what appears to have been a house swap with the owner of 182. Roy claimed in his army file that he left school in Toronto in 1940, aged 15, possibly at East York Collegiate. Roy worked for six months as a janitor in a hospital, probably Toronto East General (now Michael Garron). He then had a job at Underwood assembling typewriters. By the beginning of 1943 he joined Kingsly Manufacturing that was located at 4 Chisholm Avenue. It was a small shop that produced metal parts. Roy started there as a machinist's apprentice, operating bench lathes, milling machines and drill presses. His main hobby was driving his old car and keeping it repaired. He also enjoyed playing hockey, rugby and soccer. He had inherited his father's bronchitis and suffered from hay fever and allergies to wood dust and feathers.

Roy decided to enlist in the army, signing up on November 4, 1943. The recruiters felt he was suitable for trade training in the automotive group and to be considered for eventual upgrading to Driver-Mechanic. He became a Trooper and did his basic training in Newmarket.

On January 25, 1944, Roy went to Camp Borden near Barrie to the Canadian Armoured Corps Training Regiment and he qualified as a Driver, Class III. He now knew how to drive various army vehicles, on road and off and basic vehicle maintenance. From April 13 to 28 Roy had his embarkation leave. When he returned, he was posted to the Canadian Armoured Corps Trained Soldiers Regiment, also at Camp Borden. Roy was considered suitable for overseas service as a driver.

At this point in the war, Allied troops were gathering in England for the upcoming invasion and as much Canadian military personnel as was available was sent to Britain. On May 11, Roy had his 19th birthday and although he had only had one previous AWOL infraction noted, over the next two months, he was AWOL three times. From May 20 to May 24 and June 4 to 7 he was AWOL and was reprimanded by confinement to barracks and losing a few days' pay. He was AWOL again on June 22 and was apprehended on July 10. He forfeited 49 days' pay and the costs of his apprehension. On July 13 he was admitted to the unit detention barracks. One week later he shipped out to Britain and arrived on July 28, becoming part of the Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit. On September 8, he was transferred to the Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit and was trained on the various weapons an infantryman handled.

Movements of the Canadian Forces in Breskens Pocket. The North Shore Regiment's initial location is noted in the centre, below Schoondijke. From www.canadiansoldiers.com.

On October 17 Roy landed in Belgium as a reinforcement and joined the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment as a private. The regiment had landed on Juno Beach on D-Day and was fighting in the Breskens Pocket on the land south of the Scheldt Estuary in the Netherlands. It was a low-lying plain of fields, most of which had been flooded when their dykes were destroyed. The Germans held the south bank of the Estuary and their commander chose to fight rather than surrender. By doing so, it bought valuable time for the German army to the east. A week earlier on the 11th, the North Shore Regiment had led its brigade to a bridgehead across the Leopold Canal, which cut through the middle of the Breskens Pocket area.

When Roy joined the unit, it was in Belgium, half a mile from the Dutch border. The weather was rainy and cold. The unit was slowly pushing north, under small arms fire as the Germans retreated. By the 19th the regiment had crossed the border into the Netherlands and were slowly moving north-west. On the 21st, the regiment held its position for a few days near the town of Schoondijke. They were taking a few prisoners and progress was slow when they advanced on the 23rd. The Germans had mined much of the area and the ground had to be swept before the infantry could advance safely. On the 26th, the German opposition increased and an attack was planned for the next day. It was cloudy and cool on the 27th when the attack began at 0800 hrs. They encountered shelling, snipers and small arms fire and the ever present mines. At 1000 hrs a unit tank was reported destroyed by mines. By early afternoon the attack was called off. Roy was one of seven men of the North Shore Regiment who died that day. It is unclear whether he was in the destroyed tank or whether he was part of the infantry. He had only been with the unit for ten days.

Roy is buried in the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium. His family moved out of the Westlake Avenue house in the late 1940s. Roy's mother passed away in 1953 and his father died in 1959. In 1945 and 1946 on the anniversary of Roy's death, his family commemorated him in The Toronto Star's In Memoriam section. Beneath it was a tribute from Mildred, presumably his girlfriend.

The Toronto Star, October 26, 1946.