Jack Amey Harding

July 12, 1922 - August 5, 2021

Military Tag # B1501

Jack enlisted in the Army in the spring of 1942 at the age of 19. He would have been conscripted in July of that year, but signed up early so he had a say in where he would be placed.

He wanted to fly in the Air Force and did all of his training only to find out that he was colour blind and therefore couldn’t fly.

He then enlisted with the RCOC, the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. In October of 1942 after three weeks of training he was sent to Ottawa to the National Defence Headquarters where he worked in administration on all Army purchases.

January 1, 1943 Jack was sent to Barriefield Ontario, a neighboring village to Kingston Ontario where he spent that year in training. Jack was sent overseas on December 24, 1943 where he spent the next 3 years serving in the Army throughout the United Kingdom and Continental Europe as a Warrant Officer providing artillery to front line soldiers.

For several weeks in June of 1944 Jack was stationed on Juno Beach in Normandy living in a tent in a rain soaked trench.

In January of 1945 Jack was sent to Headquarters in Belgium near the town of Turnhout in an abandoned estate. While stationed there the Headquarters was severely damaged by a V2 German rocket which was launched to strike a destination in England. The bomb malfunctioned landing 100 yards from the Headquarters building blowing all of the windows out of the building and throwing the soldiers across the room. The bomb rested in a large hole on the front lawn of the estate burning for days.

On May 7, 1945 Dad was located in Norgren Germany when his Headquarters received a telegraph message that the German’s had surrendered marking the end of WWII.

In July of 1945 after some time in Paris, Jack returned to his home in Toronto at the age of 23.

Jack was formally discharged from the RCOC on January 29, 1946.

Jack’s brother, father and grandfather also served in the Military.

Submitted by family.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM