Addressing a tragedy: Postcards sent to homes where soldiers lived commemorate Dieppe raid

As Canadians mark the 80th anniversary of the Dieppe raid, a postcard project has been launched to help preserve the memory of the soldiers who died that day, including dozens from Manitoba.

The Juno Beach Centre Association has sent postcards to homes across Canada where the soldiers once lived. 

The bloody Second World War battle against the Nazis in Dieppe, France, lasted less than 10 hours on Aug. 19, 1942. More than 900 Canadian soldiers were killed. 

Among them was Cpl. Eldon Hatch, a handsome, outgoing man remembered fondly by his niece Nora Stark, now 86, and his nephew, 91-year-old Gordon Newton.

"I'd see him every day," said Newton, smiling as he recalled playing with his uncle during his childhood in rural Manitoba. 

"We'd grab hold of him, he'd tease us, throw us in the air and hug us. A very friendly, outgoing fella."

Stark also grinned as she remembered her uncle, whose family nicknamed him "Kutch." She said he marched in a parade in Hartney, in southwestern Manitoba, before he left for Europe with his regiment, the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada.

"Uncle Kutch was wearing his full regalia and he was playing the big bass drum," she said. "He had me on his shoulders. That's my best memory of my uncle."

Eight decades later, Stark and Newton also clearly remember the day their family got news of Hatch's death by telegram.

"I was a little guy. I'm sure I cried," Newton said. "And I missed him like heck."

"We all cried," Stark said with a sigh. "And then there was that lack of closure, because it was quite a while after that that final news came that he passed away. I'll never forget that day either."

Their uncle's last known address was on Lincoln Avenue, in Winnipeg's Weston neighbourhood. The small house is one of hundreds across Canada that got one of the postcards mailed by the Juno Beach Centre Association.

The association's executive director, Alex Fitzgerald-Black, said the thinking was that "if we can tie a serviceman who was killed overseas in 1942 to a current address, maybe that gives the person at that address pause to think about, 'Who was that person?'"

The front of each postcard shows one of the photographs featured at a new exhibit at the Juno Beach Centre in France. The reverse features the name of the person who once lived in the addressee's home, their age and their rank. 

One of the postcards went to Kathy Fossen's home on Spence Street in Winnipeg. She said she was shocked to learn a fallen soldier had lived in her house.

"The room that I sleep in, that could have been his room," she said, a sad tone in her voice. "It just gives you chills."

Fossen said she wants to learn more about Nestor Parent, a 36-year-old company quartermaster sergeant who lived in the central Winnipeg home before heading overseas.

Historians at the Juno Beach Centre Association couldn't find a photo of Parent, but they do have an idea of what his life was like, and the horrible way it ended.

Parent attended St. Boniface College, and was listed as a bilingual driver-mechanic.

His father, Jacques Parent, was a politician who served in the Manitoba Legislature from 1914 to 1917. Jacques and his wife, Ida Odile Henry, had five children, including Nestor. 

Both Jacques and Ida died years before Nestor Parent travelled to Montreal in 1940 to enlist with Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, a regiment that suffered some of the highest casualties at Dieppe.

Witnesses saw Parent crawling on the beach before he was fatally shot.

"It's heartbreaking," said Fossen, shaking her head as she thought about the man who lived in her home. 

"I am against wars, but I really appreciate the ones that do fight for us and sacrifice their lives."

Fitzgerald-Black, who is also a military historian, said it's likely everyone in Canada had some connection to someone who died at Dieppe. 

"It would have been all over the newspapers in the days, weeks and months following," he said.

"The newspapers originally were reporting success during the raid, and unfortunately, that was not the case. Then the casualty lists started to be published. And there were people lining up to see, 'Is my loved one on that list?'" 

Newton and Stark said they're proud to know their uncle is one of the soldiers whose name is on a postcard. They hope the grim anniversary reminds Canadians of the horrors of war.

"If you look at the news today, the actors changed, the positions changed, the issues changed," said Newton. "But we can't seem to learn to get along together."

Stark agreed. 

"We live in a wonderful country," she said, her voice filled with passion. "People sacrificed their lives to make it that way."

CBC News Network will have special coverage of the ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the battle. Watch full coverage live on CBC News Network, Friday at 9 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. CT, or stream on CBC Gem and CBCNews.ca.

Soldiers who died in Dieppe raid remembered through postcard project

2 years ago

Duration 2:33

The initiative by the Juno Beach Centre Association has Winnipeggers thinking about the men who died, some of whom were their relatives and others who lived at the same addresses where they now live.