255190 Pte. John Andrew Richard "Irish" Thompson Canadian Army Essex Scottish Regiment from:Limivady, Co. Derry, Ireland My father, John Thompson, joined the 2nd World War effort through the Canadian armed forces on 20th of May 1940.
He had left his home in Limivady Ireland to find work and a better life and had been working as a farm hand in the Leamington area before joining up. He often recalled that his motivation for joining was related to protecting his beloved Ireland and his family still living there. He believed that if England were to fall to the Germans then Ireland would surely follow, but of course not without a fight.
Dad did basic training in Canada and subsequently trained as a commando in Britain before being deployed by ship n the infamous raid on Dieppe. Being one of the first off the boats he was fortunate to make it to the beach wall before the Germans opened up in full force. During the course of the battle that fateful morning he was badly wounded by a mortar blast. He recalled German soldiers walking down the beach taking prisoners and shooting those who death had not yet released from their hell. He tried to feign death amongst other dead soldiers where he lay at the bottom of a mortar crater on the beach. However the Germans, discovered him and took him prisoner. He spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner being shunted to several different camps, the last being Stalag IIIa in Luckenwalde. He told me of the generally poor living conditions there, with little food, terrible hygiene and rampant disease. Many men were afflicted by lice and dysentery. He noted that he often traded cigarettes or chocolate provided through the Red Cross with German guards or with Italian prisoners of war, for bread and anything else he could get to eat.
He participated in various work parties, under guard outside of the camp. As the war came to an end, he recalled the sight of the Russian army coming in to liberate the camp and through which he was eventually repatriated through England back to Canada. He was awarded the Dieppe medal, the Canadian volunteer service medal and the 1939-45 star defense medal. He received his discharge on 27th of October 1945 from the Wosely Barracks in Windsor, Ontario.
Dad suffered both physically and mentally as the result of the poorly treated wounds and his horrific war experiences. In midlife, he was hospitalized and treated for a nervous breakdown which would now undoubtedly be referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Despite this, Dad enjoyed life, particularly in the outdoor and was an avid fisherman and hunter through his entire life. He became a highly successful buyer for the Simccoe Leaf Tobacco Company in Simcoe Ontario, and ultimately a Vice-President of that organization.
In 1952, he married Jean Agnes Robertson, who had been in the Women's Air Force, stationed at the bomber training school in Jarvis Ontario. They had two sons, Kevin Richard Thompson and Dean Gordon Thompson who remember, honor and respect him for the many sacrifices he made not only for his immediate family, but for his native country of Ireland and his adopted country of Canada as well.
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