THE MORIEN CONNECTION
Some Port Morien servicemen never came back home
Columnist Ken MacDonald writes that some Port Morien servicemen never came back home.
They are a number of sons of Port Morien who left our native village to go off to war, never to return. We honour them all for their sacrifice and memorialize them in many ways.
The Port Morien Legion has three main doors that face the street, each entering to a different part of the hall. Above each door is the replica of a street sign in the village that has the surname of a veteran who died in war.
To mark Remembrance Day, I thought I would honour the sacrifice that each made by sharing some stories behind the names. Andrews Lane is a street in the Back Pit area of the village where John and Sara Jane (MacDonald) Andrews raised their family. Many of their sons and daughters eventually settled there as well. Four members of the Andrews family enlisted to serve in the Second World War — Herbie, Kenny, Roddie and Wilfred.
Wilfred Andrews was born in Port Morien on Oct. 4, 1915. He enlisted in July 1941 and graduated as a sergeant air gunner from MacDonald Training School in Manitoba. In 1943, he proceeded overseas and attained the rank of flight sergeant. He was attached to the Royal Air Force as a member of a Halifax bomber crew, engaging in operational flights over enemy territory.
On a bombing raid over Hamburg, on June 25, 1943, his plane did not return from enemy action and he was reported missing.
A letter from Air Marshall Leckie later informed the family that Flight Sgt. Andrews was presumed to have died in active service. On Aug. 19, 1946, he was posthumously awarded the Operational Wings of the Royal Canadian Air Force “in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy.” His name is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, near London, England.
Just a kilometre past Andrews Lane on the Birch Grove Road is Prendergast Lane. George and Alice (Burke) Prendergast raised their family of nine children there. Eight members of the family — Dennis, Fred, George, Johnny, Mick, Pat, Susan and Tom, served in the Second World War; leaving only Alice, who was too young to sign up.
Thomas Augustine (Tom) Prendergast was born in Port Morien on June 1, 1921 and joined the army in 1940. He was stationed at Point Edward in January 1942 and then went with Coastal Defence, Shelburne, in November 1942. He travelled overseas in July 1944 and transferred from Royal Canadian Artillery to the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Regiment.
Pte. Prendergast served in France, Holland and Belgium, first in the artillery and then in the infantry. Tragically, he was killed on Sept. 9, 1944 during a battle at the Ghent Canal near Moerbrugge, Belgium.
He left behind his wife, Mary Catherine MacLellan of Westmount, whom he married in 1942. He is buried in the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium.
O’Day Street is located a little more than a kilometre down the Long Beach Road from Port Morien. It is a short distance from where the family of Dennis and Margaret (Maggie) (MacDonald) O’Day lived. Their son Michael James (Jimmie) O’Day was born Oct. 4, 1897, one of six children. He and his brother John (Jack) served in the First World War.
Pte. Jimmie O’Day enlisted on March 15, 1916 and served as dispatch rider with the
Royal Canadian Regiment, No. 7 Platoon. He arrived in England in October 1916 and went to France in May 1917.
Official dispatches state that on Sept. 30, 1918, during an advance west of Tilloy, France, his company encountered a severe enemy barrage. He was instantly killed by a large piece of shrapnel from a heavy calibre shell that fell close to him. He is buried in Raillencourt British Cemetery in France. His younger brother Dennis died of influenza less than three months later, at the age of 14.
These three gentlemen made the supreme sacrifice, and there are others. Some died in battle, or long after battle due to the atrocious conditions they endured. There are also unsung heroes among the survivors, those who endured despite the memories of their experiences that were too painful to share. This is a tribute to them as well.
One hundred years ago on Nov. 11, an armistice was signed to end the supposed “war to end all wars.”
“Lest we forget…”