Hall, David Cecil Everett

Corporal

Highland Light Infantry Of Canada

Royal Canadian Infantry Corps

B/115778

David Cecil Everett Hall was born at his parents’ farm on Wednesday, 10th September,1924 in Burford, Ontario. He was the youngest child of Cecil Aimeron Hall and Gertrude Young, both of whom were born in Blackheath, Wentworth County, Ontario. He had one brother, Lloyd Eugene, born in Blackheath and five sisters: the twins, Norma Alberta and Verna Melissa, also born in Blackheath, as was Gertrude May. Leone Ethelda was born in Brant County and the youngest, Cecilia Genevieve in Burford. The family attended the Church of England and lived in Burford.

David grew up near Burford, part of the Brant municipality in the south east of Ontario. He attended Burford High School until 1943 and wanted to enter the Brantford Collegiate Institute, some eight kilometers from Burford, but was unable to do so for financial reasons.

He was known as a good student, intelligent, ambitious and hardworking. He was a sportsman and played hockey, softball and tennis; he was also a swimmer. He was active locally, a member of the Boy Scouts and a singer in the Holy Trinity church choir. He wrote a column of school news for the Burford Advance newspaper.

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From a young age, David had small jobs to help the family to survive financially. After he left school he worked for a time in the textile industry in Brantford at the Slingsby Manufacturing Company as the foreman’ s assistant. His ambition, after the war was to become a lawyer.

David Cecil Everett Hall- photo Bob Hall.

IN THE MILITARY

On the 24th August,1943 David, at the age of eighteen, joined the Canadian army. He was described in the records as having a good appearance; he was 5.7½ ft. tall, with blue eyes and curly blond hair and he had a small birthmark on his left hip. He had once broken his right underarm which had healed well. His hobby was his smart 1932 Chevrolet Coupé.

David with his Chevrolet that is in perfect condition–photo Bob Hall.

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David began his army training in Toronto, #2 District Depot, going on 16 September to Petawawa Military Camp in south eastern Ontario, in the artillery. In the fourth week of his basic training, at an interview, he was enthusiastic about life in the army, He found the training easy and without problem, but, he said, that he would like to have more challenging activities and was not particularly interested in the Artillery Survey Regiment.

David and his mother Gertrude Hall with nephew Brock-photo Bob Hall.

Eleven months later on 26 June,1944, David left Canada and travelled by ship to England, arriving 4 July. He was placed with the 2nd Canadian Artillery Holding Unit. At the end of August he asked to be transferred and later joined the Canadian Highland Light Infantry. He landed in France on 14th October and reached Belgium five days later.

He was immediately involved in the heavy fighting of the Battle of the Schelde. For the Canadian soldier this was a period of indescribable misery, an endless struggle against rain and mud and a resilient enemy; in a sombre, deserted landscape, much mental and physical strength was demanded from the soldiers. The daily advance during the polder fighting was only a few hundred metres.

After the Allied victory, the Division was given a four day rest in Gent. On 11 November the Highland Light Infantry travelled east to the Dutch - German border via Antwerp and Eindhoven in the Netherlands to relieve the American 3rd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Corps.

Later they took up positions on a hill between Arnhem and Nijmegen. Again the soldiers lived in cold and damp conditions in the trenches they had dug; these were roofed with material from the gliders, left behind 3 from the Market Garden operation. A no-man’s-land lay before them with bomb craters filled with water and broken gliders scattered over the landscape together with damaged or ruined houses and barns. In the ensuing weeks, battalions were moved regularly, taking over each other’s positions. In this way, on the night of Saturday/Sunday, 18/19 November,1944, the Canadian Highland Light Infantry, stationed in the village of Ooij was relieved by the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. Headquarters decided to change the position of the Brigades every seven days, with two active Brigades and one in reserve, which would be kept up to the mark with training exercises.

Operation Veritable began on 8 February, 1945 and aimed to clear German troops from the area between the rivers Roer and Rhine. British and Canadian troops attacked from the north as Americans moved up from the south. By destroying the Roer dam, the enemy hoped to hinder the Allied advance with the help of the considerable flooding which occurred. At the beginning of the operation the town of Kleve was destroyed from the air and German positions were targeted with the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war.

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In March, The Highland Light Infantry was a part of the Scottish 154th Brigade and was ordered to take a bridgehead on the German side of the Rhine. There was fierce resistance from the enemy, which was fighting for the first time on German soil; the flooded land and wet weather made conditions extremely difficult. The HLI was the first regiment to cross the Rhine and soon, in the area near Rees, the villages of Speldrop and Bienen were taken.

David’s brother Lloyd was a gunner with The Canadian Artillery and serving in the same operation; the two brothers were able to meet each other briefly. David told Lloyd of his fears that he would not survive the war; he had already narrowly escaped being killed several times.

And alas, three days later on 31 March,1945 David was shot by a sniper on reconnaissance; he was 20 years old.

He was first buried in Vrasselt, a village some seven kilometres east of Emmerich.

On 18 February,1946, David Cecil Everett Hall was reburied in the Canadian War Cemetery, Groesbeek in the Netherlands. Plot XX. E. 5.

Inscription on his headstone:

´He Sleeps in God’s Beautiful Garden in the sunshine of perfect Peace´

David had a Dutch friend, she was a nurse her name is Margriet van der Harten. She takes care of his grave after the war, visits his family and corresponds to David's mother until she dies in the mid-1970s.

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Life story: Gijs Krist, Research Team Faces To Graves.

Sources: Bob Hall en Rob Hall, Canada and Karen Traversy. Commonwealth War Graves Library and Archives Canada Juno Beach-Wikipedia Canadian Commission Book of Remembrance Canadiansoldiers.com Honourthem.ca Highland Light Infantry of Canada-Wikipedia Album of Honor for Brant County

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