SWEET, John Alexander
NAME SWEET John Alexander
RANK Lance Sergeant 55346 1st Canadian Army - II Canadian Corps - 3rd Canadian Infantry Division - 9th Infantry Brigade REGIMENT Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders - 1st Battalion
“faithful unto death”
Royal Canadian Infantry Corp Born September 25, 1924 - Frobisher - Saskatchewan Residence Exeter - Ontario Died September 19, 1944 20 years
Cemetery Calais Canadian War Cemetery - Leugringhem - Pas-le-Calais - France
7 D 6
Mother Mrs. Muriel Sweet of Exeter / Guelph / Estevan - Saskatchewan Brother Douglas was living in Winnipeg - Manitoba Sister Helen was living in Guelph - Ontario
John was born on September 25th of 1924 in Saskatchewan, and in 1936 his father died and shortly after this the family moved to Huron County. While growing up he did target shooting, hunting, skating, horseshoes, baseball, hockey and rugby. He left schhol at the age of 16 after completing two years of high schooling. He was raised United and would have attended Exeter United Church and possibly Oxbow Saskatchewan United Church. It is believed the family moved to Ontario after John completed Public School and then attended Exeter High School for two years. Following high school he worked for Aylmer Canning in Exeter but prior to his enlistment he was not working.
Canada
He traveled to Kingston on October 26, 1940 and enlisted into the Canadian Army at District Depot "C". He was Taken on Service with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders with the rank of Private. At this time he stood 5' 9" tall and weighed 169 pounds. He had a fair complexion with blue eyes and light brown hair. John looked much older than he really was and his body build was very muscular. He was able to fool the recruiters
because of this. In April of 1941 he obtained 14 days furlough while at Debert - Nova Scotia and continued with his training.
Overseas
On July 21 when he was Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in Canada and that same day embarked from Halifax for overseas. The following day he was Taken on Service with the Canadian Army overseas and on the last day of July he disembarked in the United Kingdom at Avonmouth - England. In the middle of August he received 5 days Landing Leave and his training continued. During 1941 he was confined to barracks for 12 days for failing to appear on parade . He received Leave again very early in 1942 and then in June Private Sweet proceeds to the 3rd Canadian Division for training and while there obtains the rank of Lance Corporal. He again receives leave in July. Then in September he attended a unit a F.A.S.B. course and qualified "Q". In November he attended a 2 week course for the 3" mortar at the South East Command Weapons School. He qualified in the use of this weapon. During this year he was confined to barracks for 12 days for not cleaning his rifle and not having his pass on his person after hours. His next leave was for 10 days in January of 1943. The training continued into the next year. In this year he did not clean his rifle and received 7 days confined to barracks. On May 23, 1944 he received 10 days of field punishment and lost 10 days of pay. In the first 5 months of 1844 he spike while at attention on parade and was insubordinate to an NCO and received 3 days of confined to barracks, 10 days Field Punishment and lost 10 days of pay..
In the Field
The 3rd Canadian Division which included the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders embarked from the United Kingdom on June4 and came ashore onto Juneau Beach on June 6, 1944. He received the rank of Lance Sergeant on June 22. He fought at Caen, the Orne, Bourguebus Ridge, Faubourg de Vaucelles, Falaise, the Laison, Chambois and finally at Boulogne. Lance Sergeant Sweet was one of the few NCOs from his regiment to survive the D-Day landings. His last
letter that he sent home was being written in a slit trench and he was using the butt of his rifle as a desk to
write on.
During the fight for Caen, which had now turned into a hand – to - hand battle, he had an ear drum
punctured on September 1st and was admitted to hospital. The Glengarry’s were the first regiment to reach
the center of Caen and this was on July 9th.
On September 17th, they assaulted Mont Lambert and were the lead brigade. While they advanced they
came under a heavy German artillery barrage and were then stopped by enemy minefields. After they began
to advance again they were able to achieve their objective in less than an hour. On September 18th, one platoon was part of an operation to drive into Boulogne and seize important bridges
over the Liane river in the heart of the city, but upon arriving at the river they found all the bridges blown.
They then went to the city center. September 19 at 04:00 hours they were on the move clearing out the enemy snipers street by street. The 19th was a fair and mild day. At 10:40 am the soft vehicles were brought forward. At 1:30 pm they were informed of their tasks and they had to cross the river and take out a heavy 6” anti aircraft gun position. “A” company is to begin to advance with “D” Company then passing through “A” and take out the guns. “C” Company was to capture their objective and then “B” would move to their objective. Canadian mortar and
artillery help take out the gun emplacements. “B” Company was to then move into the factory district with
tank support. At 3:30 pm the Germans brought down heavy shelling in an area south-west of the citadel
of Boulogne. At 4:00 pm was zero hour. Early on “A” Company found that their path was blocked by enemy mines. Time was important and “D” company then advanced on Outreau with orders, that should the opposition be light, to then push forward and take the gun positions. “A” Company was now out of the minefield, and
arrived at their objective on time, and were then able to take the village with very little fighting. They also
took some prisoners. “C” Company was held up early in the operation and they then moved past the mouth
of the railway tunnel when suddenly 200+ men appeared from the tunnel and they became prisoners. They
then moved on to the reservoir with very little fighting. Between Mont Lambert and the Channel was a 250 foot high hill and on this hill the Germans had placed 6-88s and 4-20mm guns. The Germans were shelling the Highland Light Infantry and did not notice “D” Company forming in the woods east of the hill. This hill was a potential artillery task, and the target was allotted one medium concentration point. The artillery barrage surprised the Germans and the Glengarries soon followed and swarmed over the hill with fixed bayonets and grenades even before the last of the artillery shells had landed. The nearest enemy position with 3 88s was overrun with all guns intact and they pushed to the next position with 3 88s but the enemy blew these up.
This action resulted in the loss of Lance Sergeant Sweet just 6 days before his 20th birthday.
The regiment was able to remain on the hill the whole of the night of September 19/20. Lance Sergeant Sweet was originally buried in Couteville lez Boulogne in a field that was next to a school.
His mother would have received the Memorial Cross and at a later would have received the medals awarded to her son which included the 1939-45 Star, the France-Germany Star, the Defence and War Medals along with the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp.
John is honoured and remembered on the Exeter Cenotaph, on the Memorial Plaque of the Exeter High School, on the Memorial Plaque of Exeter United Church. Also, he is names in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and in the Books of Remembrance located in the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. He is also honoured and remembered on the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders Honour Roll and the Royal Canadian Legion - Kingston - Ontario and on the Memorial Plaque located at the Cornwall Armory in Cornwall - Ontario.
