Stevens, Maxime John Private The Highlanders Royal Canadian Division K – 41000

Maxime John Stevens was born in Fort St. James, B.C. on June 27, 1919. Very little is known about his family. His father Steve was born in the United States and left the family when Maxime John was 10 years old. His mother, born in Great Britain, died approximately in the year 1937, Maxime John was 17 years old then. One document in his military documents mentions a brother, David. He also served in the , but nothing else was known about him. The family was Roman Catholic. Maxime John went to school for eight years. His best subject was arithmetic, he actively practiced sports and did a typing course for six months. At the age of 17 he left education after Grade 8. This was the year in which his mother died. From now on Maxime John had to take care of himself and he started to work. In the first winter he was an art teacher at a school in northern British Columbia. He then went to work in an ore mine for two years and was active as a trapper. He also worked as a supervisor at a transport company for five months. For the last eight months, before joining the army, he was a truck driver on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory. In 1940 the National Resources Mobilization Act was passed in Canada. Available men were called upon to register to enlist, initially to defend the home country of Canada.

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Later these men were also deployed for overseas service. One of these men was Maxime John Stevens. On October 4, 1943, Maxime John, 24 years old, reported for military service. His army number was K - 607623.

After just over two months, on December 13, 1943, he gave himself up for active duty. He resided at 2734 Glen Drive, Vancouver, B.C. then. His new army number was K - 41000. Maxime John was single at the time and, according to his medical records, he was a healthy young man with black hair and brown eyes. He was 5 ft. 4 tall and weighed 119 pounds. He mentioned photography as a hobby. He liked reading detective novels, played the guitar and harmonica and in his little spare time he occasionally visited a dance show. Because he learned to type well at school and because he did not look very strong physically, the lieutenant who interviewed him after he took up his duties thought that Maxime John would do better in an administrative position than in the infantry. But Maxime John did not want to know about that. He wanted to work as a truck driver. In his will, he stated John E. Moran as his sole heir. Mr. Moran was a teacher in Whitehorse, Yukon District. They probably knew each other from Maxime John's time as an art teacher or from the time when Maxime John worked as a truck driver on the Alaska Highway that also passes through Whitehorse. He began his military career with basic training in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. After applying for active duty, he was transferred to Camp Borden, Ontario. In February 1944 he became a qualified truck driver. From March 26 to April 10, 1944, Maxime John was given embarkation leave. He appeared to be about to leave for Europe. Yet that would take until October 14. Why so much time elapsed between his leave and his departure for is not clear. It could be due to his being admitted to the hospital at Camp Borden on April 27. What was going on was not clear. He was also given twelve days leave in July.

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After his arrival in England on October 20, 1944, another month of intensive training with the followed and Maxime John was re-embarked on December 28. He arrived in on December 29. It was not until February 11, 1945 that he was assigned to the Calgary Highlanders regiment. It was not clear where he had been in the meantime. The Calgary Highlanders lost many men in Wyler, Germany, on February 8, during the launch of . Maxime John was one of the guys who were added to the regiment. They stayed in Berg en Dal and Nijmegen for a week, after which they left for the Moyland forest in Germany on February 18. Maxime John was then at the front for the first time. While Canadian forces fought a fierce battle around Moyland Castle, the Calgary Highlanders took up their positions in the middle of the night. They stayed at the rear. They would be on patrol for the next 48 hours. However, there were some skirmishes with German soldiers and they fired at Moyland Castle. After Moyland the Hochwald followed. A dense forest, with sometimes only a few meters of visibility, so there was a good chance of being ambushed. This was where started. The goal of the Calgary Highlanders was to take the west side of the northern edge of the forest. Just after midnight, on February 27, the regiment left. It was cloudy and there was no moonlight to make things visible for the men. The farms they passed in the open countryside seemed deserted. Only at morning light they encountered resistance from German soldiers, but they managed to reach their goal, struggling through mud and snow, and at 10:30 in the evening, after twenty-four hours, a hot meal could finally be eaten. Two hundred German soldiers were taken prisoner, twelve Calgary Highlanders died this day in the Hochwald. One of them was Maxime John Stevens, twenty-five years old, after ten days at the front. Maxime John Stevens was temporarily buried in Bedburg, Germany. On September 6, 1945, he was reburied at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, grave reference VII. D. 5. Maxime John Stevens has received the following awards:  1939 – 1945 Star  France & Germany Star  Defence Medal  War Medal 1939 – 1945  Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp

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His friend receives the message that he has been killed.

Life story: Sigrid Norde – Research Team Faces To Graves.

Sources:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Library and Archives Canada

David J. Bercuson, Battalion of Heroes – The Calgary Highlanders in World War II, The Calgary Highlanders Regimental Foundation, 1994

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