The Gallant 80

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

“On October 6, 1944, a company of 80 men from the Royal Montreal Regiment entered into a battle that would do irreparable damage to the Germans suffering 46 casualties; 10 killed, 16 captured, and 20 wounded. The company showed their determination, ultimately defeating the enemy and receiving three military medals.”

So reads a panel as part of an exhibit at the Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR) Museum on Ste. Catherine Street in Westmount. The exhibit, held the week leading up to Remembrance Day, is titled ‘A Regiment’s Sacrifice: Defeating Hitler’s Army.’ It is a look at the World War II liberation of northwest Europe, particularly The Battle of Leopold Canal, which took place from October 6 to 13 in 1944. Colin Robinson, Former Commanding Officer, RMR, says it was the beginning of the end, perhaps not of the war, but certainly of the liberation of Holland.

Leopold Canal is in northern Belgium bordering the Netherlands. And while the RMR was not initially supposed to be a part of the battle, the contribution of the men in the regiment – The Gallant 80, as a poem by Bob McLaughlin calls them – contributed directly to the liberation of northwest Europe and the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

The idea, Robinson explains, was to free up the Port of Antwerp to make the transport of supply ships and troops from Normandy easier, and to mitigate the Hunger Winter, the famine perpetrated on the Dutch by the Germans.

The 80 men of the RMR who fought the battle, dodging heavy German fire amid the blinding smoke from the German guns with little to protect them, were not regular soldiers, says Robinson. They were reservists who’d spend a good part of the war training in England, and were eager to join the war. What they had in common is that they were all Montrealers. They were family men, working men from NDG, Westmount, Montreal West, Pointe St. Charles, and Griffintown. Their average age was about 22, having joined up at 18 and spending time training and preparing for what would eventually be a legendary and decisive battle.

The exhibit, put together by Amynte Eygun, will soon start touring schools. It’s made up of panels telling the stories of the battle, and the stories of the some of the men who fought, along with display cases containing soldiers’ personal effects: razors, bibles, pay books, lighters, and sewing kits. The panels tell of the men, their jobs prior to the war, and the addresses of the houses they lived in.

Eygun says the goal of the exhibit was “to show the personal stories of the men and who they were, to show that they were just regular guys.”

“Regular dudes,” Robinson chimes in.

“It was really to represent them as human beings,” Eygun continues. “As boys who, all of them lived at home, had regular jobs, who volunteered.”

Private Richard Maurice Thornicroft was from NDG. While studying to be an accountant he worked at the old POM Bakery, kitty-corner to the RMR on Ste. Catherine. At the time it would have been known as the Harrison Bros Bakery, the very bakery that made the ration biscuits Thornicroft would have had in his kit.

Private Joseph Adélard Roger Martin was from Griffintown, and worked at the original Montreal location of Northern Telecom in Pointe St. Charles. The building is still there on Shearer at St. Patrick.

The exhibition, says Isabelle Racicot, Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, RMR “is an ideal opportunity to collectively remember the sacrifice that the military of the past made to ensure Canada’s freedom.”