McAVELIA o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2006-06-27 published
EECHAUTE,
Robert
Paul
65 years, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday June 24,
2006. Beloved husband of Diane
EECHAUTE,
Leamington.
Sadly missed
by son Sean and his fiancee Diane
WAGLER,
Stratford,
Ontario.
Dear brother of Marg
PERRY and Dorris
TURRIL,
Warkworth,
Ontario.
Uncle to Wendy and husband Mark
ROWE and their son Nickolaus,
Mike PERRY and partner Heather
MacAVELIA,
Cindy and husband Brant
MacAVELIA, all of Warkworth, Ontario. Beloved
son of the late
Larry and Violet
EECHAUTE.
Predeceased by sister Dorothy
RIEDIGER,
and nephew Jay
RIEDIGER.
Bob was retired from the Ford Motor
Co. Essex Engine Plant. Member of the Royal Canadian Legion Br. 84,
Leamington and member of Erie Shores Golf and Country Club. Always
with us, bigger than life. Keeping the watch, our Buff. Appreciation
of family and Friends not forgotten. Condolences only please.
Arrangements entrusted to the Reid Funeral Home 14 Russell Street,
Leamington (519-326-2631). Condolences may be sent at www.reidfuneralhome.ca
Page B5
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McAVITY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-05-02 published
Bill MILROY,
Army
Officer And Consultant: (1920-2006)
Major who won a D.S.O. during the closing weeks of the Second
World War later became a lieutenant-general and was given command
of the Canadian Army
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special to the Globe and Mail, Page S9
Ottawa -- By April of 1945, Bill
MILROY was tired, bone tired,
after more than a year of almost continuous fighting in Italy,
Belgium and the Netherlands. Mr.
MILROY, a major commanding B Squadron,
2nd Canadian Armoured Regiment, knew that Germany was in flames
and close to surrendering, but when and where the Second World
War would end was anyone's guess.
Hundreds of thousands of German soldiers fought tenaciously to
defend their homeland and for Mr.
MILROY and his battle-weary
troopers, there were always more of them to kill or capture before
they pointed their Sherman tanks toward the next objective. Still,
they could almost smell the end.
"There was excitement in the air. It was difficult to realize
that we were at last on Dutch soil and only a few miles from
Germany," wrote Lieutenant-Colonel J.M.
McAVITY in his 1947 history
of the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians). "It had seemed
very far away during the past year."
Fresh orders arrived on April 10, 1945. Mr.
MILROY and his regiment
were ordered to support the British army in Operation Cleanser,
known as the second Battle of Arnhem, in the Netherlands. The
Strathconas would fire their 75-millimetre guns in support for
the assault, then push to the Zuider Zee, now called Ijsselmeer,
50 kilometres away.
Deploying his tanks with his customary skill, Mr.
MILROY -- known
affectionately to his men as Billy the Kid -- ran up against
strong opposition from German anti-tank guns and infantry during
the week-long race to the sea. On two separate occasions, on
April 15 and
April 17, Mr.
MILROY, displaying "great personal
gallantry," dismounted from his tank to make a personal reconnaissance
on foot. "Then, in both cases, from the information gained, he
put a plan into effect which was highly successful and most skillfully
controlled and ensured the further advance of the regiment,"
an official citation said.
Sixty-one years later, Robert
GREENE, an Anglican canon living
in Calgary, remembers feeling alarmed when Mr.
MILROY climbed
down from their tank and walked down the middle of the road.
At that time, Mr.
GREENE was Mr.
MILROY's gunner in their tank,
which they had nicknamed "Brown."
"I jumped out with a Tommy gun and followed him to give cover.
I said, 'Sir, shouldn't we be in the ditch?' He was fearless,"
said Rev. GREENE, who fought with Mr.
MILROY for almost two years.
"We would have followed him everywhere. He was a great commander."
For his tactical brilliance, Mr.
MILROY was awarded the Distinguished
Service Order, one of only five Strathcona officers to receive
it during the war. "During the entire period, Major
MILROY was
tireless in his efforts, consistently showing the greatest skill
in handling his squadron and displaying magnificent coolness
under fire," the citation said.
Bill MILROY grew up in small-town Saskatchewan where his father
managed the local bank. After working on his grandfather's farm
for several summers, he studied commerce at the University of
Alberta and joined the Canadian Officers' Training Corps. Commissioned
as an officer, he volunteered for overseas service and joined
Lord Strathcona's Horse on August 13, 1941. That November, the
regiment left Camp Borden, Ontario, for Britain.
Two years later, Mr.
MILROY got his first taste of modern armoured
warfare when he landed in Italy on December 1, 1943. For the
next 11 months, he and B Squadron struggled up the Italian peninsula
with the 5th Canadian Armoured Brigade. On May 24, 1944, he fought
in the battle of Melfa River, part of Operation Chesterfield,
in which Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander's Eighth Army attack
the Hitler Line south of Rome. In a two-day battle, the Strathconas'
reconnaissance troop crossed the Melfa River, established a bridgehead
and held it until a company from the Westminster Regiment, commanded
by Major J.K. Mahony, arrived. Major Mahoney was later awarded
the Victoria Cross. Shortly after, the Strathconas' commanding
officer was wounded and Mr.
MILROY took over temporarily.
Almost four months later, Mr.
MILROY was wounded during the battle
of the Gothic Line, a heavily fortified, mountainous defensive
line that stretched across Italy north of Florence. During the
action, Mr.
MILROY and B Squadron repelled a German counterattack
in the middle of the night that included fierce hand-to-hand
fighting.
After things settled down, Mr.
MILROY held a brief conference
with two of his officers. Then the unexpected happened. "[It
was] pitch black when what I assume was a German still in the
area [threw] a grenade in our midst. When I came to, I was the
only one left," he told his son Rollin in 1992. The explosion
cost Mr. MILROY most of the hearing in his left ear.
He never spoke of his war experiences unless asked, said Rollin
MILROY. "
Then he was happy to answer. The stories that would
spontaneously come out were always humorous, or about Friendship
in some manner. While I don't think he ever attempted to convince
himself war is anything but awful, he also recognized the many
good qualities of people that emerge during such times."
After the war, Mr.
MILROY remained in the army, serving at home
and abroad in the United States and Britain. In 1953, he attended
the Queen's coronation in London. Despite a fall of heavy rain,
Mr. MILROY thoroughly enjoyed his job marshalling the Canadian
troops marching in the procession. "[There was] a wonderful feeling
of camaraderie that enveloped everyone during the period of the
coronation. We all thought that we were in on the beginning of
a bright new world. While it didn't quite work out that way,
for those of us there the experience lightened our days for years
to come. It was similar to the feeling one has when one is a
member of a good Regiment, like the Strathconas," he wrote in
In 1972, he was promoted to lieutenant-general and given command
of the Canadian army, then called Mobile Command. After retiring
in 1975, he worked in Ottawa as a consultant until 1988.
In 2001, Mr.
MILROY was made a member of the Order of Canada,
for his "exceptional leadership qualities as a volunteer. As
national chair of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, he helped
raised the status and profile of the corps. He also served on
the board of governors of Ottawa's Ashbury College and has made
immeasurable contributions to health care in the region and to
the Salvation Army's fundraising operations."
Mr. MILROY never forgot his beloved unit and served as colonel
of the regiment from 1971 to 1978. He donated the sabre he carried
during the coronation to the regiment's commanding officers.
William Alexander
MILROY was born on June 25, 1920, in Brownlee,
Saskatchewan. He died of pulmonary fibrosis on February 20, 2006,
in Ottawa. He was 85. He is survived by his wife, Ann, his son
Rollin, his daughters Elizabeth and Alexandra. He also leaves
his sisters Marion and Jean.
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McAVITY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-07-15 published
McAVITY,
John
Malcolm
Of Vancouver died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family,
at 10: 00 o'clock on the morning of July 12, 2006. Born on July 18,
1917, John grew up in Rothesay, New Brunswick, attended Rothesay
Collegiate, and subsequently Royal Military College, Kingston,
quickly followed by service in England, Italy and the low countries
during the Second War. John is survived by his loving wife of
sixty four years, Adine (Dids)
McAVITY (née
OLAND,) his son Eric
Oland (Judith
MAXWELL) of Canmore, Alberta, his daughters Frances
Denise HAZEN of Vancouver and Catherine Martha
DOUGLAS/DOUGLASS
(John
KAYE) of North Saanich, British Columbia and his granddaughter
Martha ELYSE of Canmore, Alberta. He was predeceased by his eldest
son J.P. Malcolm (Patricia
McAVITY née
GIBSON) of North Saanich
in 2001, by his parents Frances Edith
HAZEN and Thomas Malcolm
McAVITY in 1933 and 1944 respectively, and by his two younger
brothers, Douglas Malcolm of Greenwich, Connecticut and Peter
Malcolm of St Louis, Missouri. Dad started his post war working
life with his cousin Hugh
MacKAY in Saint John, New Brunswick,
in a profession in which he spent his entire working life, and
which culminated with
RBC
Dominion
Securities in Vancouver in
1986. As a volunteer in his adopted west coast community, Dad
served with great dedication as a director and chair of the board
of the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society and also as
a director and chair of the Board of Governors of Shawnigan Lake
School. Dad maintained a life long interest in his woodwork shop,
his garden, the Cook Gun Club at Vedder Crossing, fishing at
Pennask Lake and most importantly, in maintaining his close connection
with so many many Friends, all of which gave him immense pleasure.
In his later years, Dad suffered with kidney failure and spent
the last ten years of his life as a patient at the dialysis unit
at Vancouver General Hospital. During this time he was lovingly
supported by so many Friends: the "fly boys" who faithfully drove
him to and from so many of his dialysis appointments, and to
his care givers, Rudy, Maria and Fatima and Dino. A special thanks
to Rev. Kevin Dixon and Bishop Jim Cruickshank of Saint Mary's
Kerrisdale, to Doctor A.B. (Tony) Wilson and
to Dad's palliative
care team, Shirley, Lea and Rose-Marie, all of whom so graciously
assisted Dad/Grampa on the final leg of his life's journey. A Memorial
Service will be held at Saint Mary's Kerrisdale, 2490 West 37th Avenue,
Vancouver, on Dad's 89th birthday, Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at
2: 00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, and if you are so moved, donations
can be made to the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society
(British Columbia and Yukon Division), 393 University Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1E6: info@arthritis.ca or to the Vancouver
General Hospital and University of British Columbia Hospital
Foundation (Renal Program), 855 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver,
British Columbia, V5Z 1M9, (604-875-5240), in remembrance of
John Malcolm
McAVITY.
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