RYAN, Thomas Joseph
NAME RYAN Thomas Joseph.
RANK Private 59440 1st Canadian Army - II Canadian Corps - 3rd Canadian Infantry Division - 9th Infantry Brigade REGIMENT Highland Light Infantry of Canada Born September 10, 1918 - Guelph - Township of Guelph - County of Wellington Residence Parkhill Died February 11, 1945 26 years 5 months
Cemetery Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery - Groesbeek - Province of Gelderland - Netherlands
I D 12
Father Mr. Thomas Ryan - Guelph / Parkhill Brothers Hugh and Norman - Parkhill
Thomas was born in Guelph on September 10, 1918. He grew up on a farm just east of Corbett - Middlesex County and completed his public schooling there. Before he enlisted into the Canadian Army he was employed as a bus operator and operated a bus service between Parkhill, Sarnia and Wallaceburg. He was Roman Catholic and would have attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. He left school at the age of 14 following the completion of Grade VIII and one year of High School in Sarnia at Sarnia Collegiate Institute.
Canada
Under the Militia Act and the National Resources Mobilization Act of 1940 he enrolled into the Militia in Chatham on March 12, 1942. At the time he stood 5'5" and he weighed 133 pounds. He had a medium complexion with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He received the rank of Private and went to No. 1 NRMA Clearing Depot and attached to No. 12 Basic Training Centre in Chatham. Less than two weeks later he was AWOL and confined to barracks with loss of pay. Two days later on March 25 he is Struck off Service from No. 1 NRMA Clearing Depot having enlisted into the Canadian Army Active Service Force in Chatham. He then proceed to No. 12 Basic Training Centre in Chatham and on April 7 is AWOL and confined to barracks with loss of pay. That same day he is transferred to Camp Borden to No. 8 Advanced Training Centre. On July 7 he he posted to the Canadian Forces Overseas and immediately proceeds to the east coast in preparation for going overseas.
Overseas
On July 19 he boards ship and on July 20 he is Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in Canada and he embarks from Canada for overseas. The following day at sea is is Taken on Service with the Canadian Army overseas. On July 20 he disembarks in the United Kingdom with the rank of Trooper and proceeds to No. 3 Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit. He is granted leave in September and December. During 1943 training continued and on February 7 he is attached to No. 7 Reconnaissance Unit and then in March he receives leave but goes AWOL and is placed under detention with loss of pay. Between August 26-September 24 he is on course. On October 7 he is posted to the 28th Armoured Regiment - British Columbia Regiment. At the end of January 1944 he is posted to No. 3 Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit. In early February Trooper Ryan qualified as a Driver of wheeled vehicles I.C. III. At the end of April he is sent to 1st Canadian Detention Barracks for being AWOL and spends 27 days there with loss of pay. From May1-5 he is a patient at Basingstoke Neurological Hospital. At the beginning of August he qualified as a Driver Mechanic of wheeled vehicles Group "C". On August 31 Trooper Ryan reclassifies as Infantry with the rank of Private. In mid September he is AWOL and is confined to barracks and loses pay.
In the Field
Private Ryan embarks from the United Kingdom on October 16 and the next day disembarks in Belgium and then a day later on October 18 he is posted to the Highland Light Infantry of Canada and the following day joins his unit in the field. He fought in the Scheldt and into the Rhineland. On February 11, 1945 a amphibious assault was launched against the villages of Duffelward and Wardhausen which were cleared by nighfall. "D" Company was riding on Buffalo tanks. The family received a letter from #17 Canadian General Hospital in March of 1945 and it was written by a
comrade of Private Ryan. Private Ryan had been a member of #2 Platoon and was one of the Bren Gunners. The writer explained that while the regiment held the front lines and before the next campaign began they had played many games of cards in the evenings. The writer then says that things happened very quickly once they received their orders to attack a village which formed part of the Ziegfried Defences. When the attack began #2 Platoon led the way and came under very intense machine gun and mortar fire with the result being they suffered 50+% casualties. Private Ryan was killed instantly during this attack. His death took place at approximately 4:30 during the afternoon of February 11th. The village they had attacked was called Kleefe and he died still advancing and firing his Bren gun. He apparently did not suffer at all and felt no pain. He was originally buried in a temporary Canadian Military Cemetery south-west of Nijmegen.
His father received the Memorial Cross and then in 1949 he received the 1939-45 Star, the France-Germany Star, the Defence and War Medals plus the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp.
Private Ryan would be honoured and remembered on the Sarnia Collegiate Institute Memorial Plaque and on the Exeter Cenotaph as well as on the Memorial Plaque of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church. He is also remembered in the Books of Remembrance located in the Centre Hall of Parliament in Ottawa and on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
