Page 24 Fort York News Summer 2015 “A GREAT DAY” FOR MAJOR LLOYD Major Kenyon’s wife, Winnie and his three children KENYON – FRENCH LEGION OF HON- were delighted spectators at the presentation along with 20 members of his extended family. As many as OUR RECIPIENT ten members of Branch 165 were also on hand to By Capt. Larry D. Rose congratulate their fellow branch member. They in- cluded Malcolm Hamilton who initiated the award ajor Lloyd Kenyon, a D-Day veteran, combat application on behalf of Major Kenyon. Mr. Hamilton engineer, and a longstanding member of M called the ceremony, “a great day for a great veter- Branch 165, has been presented with France’s most an.” prestigious award, the Legion of Honour. Major Ken- yon was presented with the medal at a recent cere- Major Kenyon grew up in Montreal and enrolled at mony in Toronto. the Royal Military College in Kingston in 1938 just after his 17th birthday. He was a noted athlete, play- Major Kenyon, now 93 and a resident of “K Wing” ing rugby and hockey. He transferred to the engi- at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, was made a neering program at McGill University when RMC “Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Hon- closed for the war but then joined the Canadian Ar- our”—as the honour is formally titled. The medal my in May, 1941. was presented by France’s Consul General in Toron- to, Jean-Francois Casbonne Masonnave and Lieu- Lieutenant Kenyon spent a period in Canada both tenant-Colonel Roger Vandomme. as a trainee and then as an instructor before being sent to England. He was assigned to the 16th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, part of the Third Canadian Infantry Division, then preparing for the invasion of France. On D-Day, the 16th Field Engineers were among the first troops to land in Normandy. The tide was higher than expected when the sappers touched Major Kenyon down making it difficult to complete one of their pri- mary tasks, clearing beach obstacles. In following days their extremely hazardous work included defus- ing or blowing up booby traps which the Germans employed relentlessly.Following D-Day, Lieutenant Kenyon participated in many battles including those at Caen, Carpiquet, Falaise and Trun. At Trun the 16th Field Company was part of the “cork in the bot- tle” that trapped thousands of German troops trying to escape from the Falaise area. Following the liberation of France, newly promoted Captain Kenyon continued as a front line combat en- gineer through Belgium and Holland. Just after the end of the war he was promoted to major and ap- pointed Officer Commanding, 9th Field Squadron, Royal Canadian Engineers, which was employed Major Kenyon at the R.M.C. reunion, 2008 clearing demolished bridges from canals in Holland.

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Page 26 Fort York News Summer 2015 Kenyon Doug Scott He was awarded a Mention in Dispatches in Octo- In 1970 Doug moved to San Diego where he ber, 1945. stayed for twenty-five years in senior positions in Health Care. He was a qualified Certified Public Ac- After leaving the army he returned to McGill Univer- countant in California when he moved to Columbus, sity to complete his Bachelor of Civil Engineering in Georgia in 1995. There, Doug taught High School 1948. Major Kenyon then began a career in con- English, History and kicking and punting with the foot- struction that lasted more than forty years. His pro- ball team. jects included university, insurance and government buildings, and even the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Never one to be idle, Doug decided to take the Centre Veterans Wing where he now lives. He also Master of Public Administration program at Columbus was president of the Toronto Construction Associa- State University when he was 70 years of age. Unfor- tion in 1970, an organization that serves 1,500 mem- tunately Doug broke his hip falling on black ice in ber companies in Metropolitan Toronto. In addition, 2011. This accident eventually brought him to Sunny- he has been a member of Branch 165 for many brook Veterans’ Residence. years. Doug keeps very busy at Sunnybrook. He writes The French government has chosen to honour poetry, paints, enjoys photography and reading. three hundred former soldiers from Canada, along Doug obviously practises lifelong learning, taking ac- with similar numbers from the United Kingdom and tive part in Fort York Branch dinner meetings, in the the United States who participated in the liberation of arts and in enjoying life. □ Terry Sleightholm France. The medal was award in recognition of Ma- ______jor Kenyon’s “professional involvement in the libera- tion.” It is meant to honour not only the recipient but Olson the sacrifice of thousands of Canadians who were Citizens of London, however, is more than the part of the liberation. deeply human story of these three Americans and the The Kenyon family expressed their gratitude to world leaders they aided Malcolm Hamilton for “patiently pursuing the applica- and influenced. It’s a com- tion process” with the French government, a process pelling account of the trans- which finally led to the award presentation. formative power of personal diplomacy. Above all, it’s a rich, panoramic tale of two 2639 L/Cpl Lloyd cities: Washington, D.C., a lazy Southern town slowly “Red” Kenyon June 1940 growing into a hub of inter- national power, and Lon- don, a staid, class-

conscious capital trans- formed by war into a vibrant cosmopolitan metropolis, humming with energy, ro- mance, excitement, and danger. To a number of Americans who spent time in wartime London and the rest of Britain, the country seemed like a kind of Brigadoon — a magical place where courage, resolu-

tion, sacrifice, and sense of unity and common pur- posed triumphed, if only for a few short years. □