One part of the collection consists of letters written by Harry Clark, Jr., to his mother, Jane (Jennie) Clark, in London, Ontario, after he had enlisted in the Canadian Army. The other letters were received by a distant relative, Kathleen Jackson (ne Hastings), while she was recovering from tuberculosis in London, Ontario. The letters, which describe conditions in wartime Britain, were written by relatives of Kathleen,s father Hugh Hastings, who died while convalescing from wounds sustained in the First World War.
Title
WWII
These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Donald Sinclair Jamieson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June 1924. He enlisted with the RCAF and served with the 426 Squadron. On December 16, 1943, while returning from a mission over Germany, his Lancaster crashed on return to England. Five crew members were killed immediately, one later died of injuries, and Jamieson walked away with only ten stitches (see his letter of December 1943). While returning from a mission over Germany on June 28/29 1944 his his Halifax was shot down, but all the crew bailed out successfully over France and were sheltered by French citizens of the village of Honguemare. Jamieson and another crew member were captured on July 14 and held in prison. They were taken out of the prison on the night of August 21, 1944 and executed. Their bodies were never found and they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Jamieson was twenty years old at the time. The collection currently consists of two letters and one photograph.
External links:
Flying Officer Donald Sinclair Jamieson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J19863) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Jamieson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Able Seaman Lawrence James Jodoin was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on September 16, 1925, to parents Arthur and Mary Jodoin. He had two younger siblings, Robert and Marion.
Jodoin enlisted with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve at H.M.C.S. Nonsuch in Edmonton on March 22, 1943. He was posted the following June to H.M.C.S. Naden in Esquimalt, British Columbia. He served a month aboard H.M.C.S. Stadacona prior to his arrival in Great Britain in November of 1943, where he spent the winter in Scottland at H.M.C.S. Niobe and H.M.S. St. Christopher. Assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat duty the following spring, Jodoin joined the crew of MTB-461 on May 6, 1944.
Killed in action on July 9, 1944, off Cap D’Antifer, France, during the Normandy Landings operations, Jodoin was buried at sea that same day. He was posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches for “gallantry, skill, determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy.” He is commemorated on the Halifax Memorial, Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1950 the Peace River tributary Jodoin Creek was named in his honour.
Content notes:
Most letters in the collection were written by Jodoin to Patricia Tupman of Victoria, B.C., between August of 1943 and July of 1944; they first met during Jodoin’s time at H.M.C.S. Naden in Esquimalt. Also included are three letters sent by Tupman that were returned to her as undeliverable following Jodoin’s death.
External links:
AS Lawrence Jodoin’s service record (Serv/Reg# V57427) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Jodoin can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Mentioned in Despatches (posthumous), December 29, 1944, in the London Gazette (#36858, p. 5916).
Geographic information on Jodoin Creek in the Canadian Geographical Names Database, Government of Canada.
A photograph of the crew of MTB-461, taken on May 1944, can be viewed online at The Naval Museum of Manitoba. Jodoin is in the back row, sixth from left.
Robert Lloyd Jones was born in Vulcan, Alberta in November, 1918. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1939 and served overseas with the 405 Squadron as an Aero Engine Mechanic. Jones returned to Canada in September, 1945. The collection currently consists of one photograph and two letters published in the local newspaper, The Vulcan Advocate.
