Seven brothers served
Seven Brickton Burbidges served their country well in the Second World War
Remembrance Day hits home for Brickton Burbidges.
Kathleen (Burbidge) Hake’s 10 brothers were all gentlemen, never swore, and seven of them served in the military during the Second World War.
They all came home.
Burpee, the oldest serving brother, was 22 when Kathleen was born in 1933. Frank was the youngest of the seven but was nine years older than his little sister. Stewart was the brother who, perhaps, suffered the most. Long after the war, he died in a plane crash on the South Mountain on the border of Kings and Annapolis counties.
Kathleen and her 10 brothers and four sisters were the children of Norman and Alma Burbidge and lived in a large house on the south side of Highway 1 in Brickton, just west of Middleton.
“We ran that big farm,” she recalls of her parents' place when she was a girl. “Every Sunday they (her older brothers) would come down for dinner. It was a big farm and for dinner they would always come, bring their kids. From eleven o’clock to eight o’clock at night we did dishes. Mama would put a big roast on."
She said dinner could last from noon to 6 p.m. as people came straggling in with their kids. She describes as many as 20 people at any given time around a large table her father made, and they sat on long benches.
Later she remembers her brothers being in uniform. She finds a picture of her brother Aubrey.
“You’d have liked him,” she said. “He was a real gentleman.”
She tells the story of Aubrey during war time. He was stationed near Halifax but lived in Mount Rose on the North Mountain.
“He had a bicycle. He was very tall, long-legged. Anyway, they would bring them home for the weekend and then they’d have to go to Bridgetown to get on the bus to get back,” she said.
“He left to go get the bus, but the bus was gone. He was scared because if you didn’t turn up you’d be AWOL ... he got on his bicycle and he drove – he took some bread and stuffed it in his pocket – and he drove his bicycle all the way from Mount Rose all the way to Halifax. He was there the next morning. I said ‘Aubrey, were you scared?’ He said he was. ‘That’s what made me do it,’ he said.”
She said Aubrey would do anything for anyone and they could all fix their cars. “They never had to go to a mechanic,” she said.
Kathleen and her brothers and sisters all when to school in Brickton. The old school house is now the community hall with a small cenotaph out front. That’s where she goes for Remembrance Day services.
By the time Kathleen grew up, all of her brothers were back home. She met a man and got married. Of course, he was a soldier.
She married Leslie Hake, who was an infantryman with the Black Watch Regiment and served mostly in the Maritimes but did a tour in Cyprus. They live in Brickton, just down the road from that old farmhouse.
THE BROTHERS
Burpee Burbidge - Burpee was born Sept. 4, 1911 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army,
RCEME, in 1939 and served in the UK. He was the eldest of seven brothers who served in the Second World War. He returned home in 1945 and passed away in April 1994.
Charles Burbidge - Charlie was born June 6, 1916 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army, Forestry Division, in 1940 and served in Scotland until his return home in 1945. He passed away Oct. 23, 1992.
Ralph Burbidge - Ralph was born Nov. 19, 1917 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army in 1939 but was unable to serve overseas because of problems with his feet. He served in Canada until 1945. He passed away in June 1990.
Stanley Burbidge - Stan was born April 30, 1919 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army, Search Flight Battery, in 1940 and served overseas from 1941 to 1945. He came home in 1945 and passed away in September 1969.
Aubrey Burbidge - Aubrey was born Dec. 10, 1921 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army, North Shore Regiment, RCEME, in January 1943 and served in the UK and Holland. He came home in February 1946. He passed away on Feb. 28, 2015.
Stewart Burbidge - Stewart was born July 15, 1923 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army, Halifax Rifles in 1939 but wanted to be a paratrooper. To do that he then enlisted with the US Army and served in Italy, Sicily, and Japan. He was wounded twice and was a prisoner of war for 11 months. He received the Purple Heart. He came home in 1945 and died in a plane crash in June of 1979.
Frank Burbidge - Frank, the youngest of the seven brothers, was born on Nov. 23, 1924 at Brickton. He joined the Canadian Army in 1943 – artillery. He was injured while training and spent the war in Canada until demobilized in 1946.