LAMONT, Hector John

NAME             LAMONT     Hector John
RANK             Trooper        627                                                                                                                                                   1st Canadian Army - II Canadian Corps - 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade                          REGIMENT    6th Armoured Regiment - 1st Hussars
                       “today not tomorrow”
                       Royal Canadian Armoured Corp
Residence      Port Loring, Ontario                                                                                                                Born               July 29, 1921 - Seaforth - McKillop/Tuckersmith Townships - County of Huron - Ontario              Died               July 25, 1944     23 years
Memorial        Bayeux Memorial - Bayeux - Calvados - France
                       Panel 19 Column 2
Parents          Mr.Archibald and Margaret Lamont - Seaforth / Port Loring / Toronto                                            Brother           Mr. Arnold Lamont of Seaforth                                                                                                                             Mr. Donald Lamont of Goderich                                                                                                                           Mr. Harvey Lamont of Hamilton                                                                                                                           Mr. Norman Lamont of Toronto                                                                                                      Sister              Miss Margaret Lamont of Stratford                                                                                                                       Miss Mary Lamont of Seaforth                                                                                                                             Miss Nellie Lamont of Toronto                                             

Hector was born in Seaforth on July 29, 1921 and the family would have attended Northside United Church in Seaforth and after moving to Port Loring the family attended St Andrew's United Church. After his schooling, Hector was employed as a guide at a tourist camp and at a munitions factory in Nobel
just north of Parry Sound. He enjoyed hunting very much. He was in the Militia and attached to the Scots Fusiliers of Canada.

Canada

On June 3, 1941 he traveled to London to enlist into the Canadian Army. At the time he stood 5' 8" and weighed 138 pounds. He had a fair complexion with blue eyes and light brown hair. He was Taken on Strength at No. 1 District Depot and attached to the 6th Armoured Brigade. He was then posted to Camp Borden where his unit was training. In early November he was posted to Halifax in preparation for overseas.                                                                                                                                                                Overseas

On November 9, 1941 he embarked from Canada and was Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in Canada and the following day he was Taken on Service with the Canadian Army overseas. He disembarked in Liverpool on November 23. Once there he was required to take additional training because his training in Canada was not sufficient. He took rifle, light machine gun and pistol training.                                                As training continued into 1942 Trooper Lamont took courses and on July 20-21 He qualified as a Driver IC III for both wheeled and tracked vehicles. The training continued through 1942 and on December 18 he was attached to the Canadian Military Headquarters and attached to the Canadian Ordnance Corps Reserve Unit.                                                                                                                                                                  On January 7, 1943 he returned to his unit  Three days later he qualified as a Driver Mechanic "C" on all Armoured Fighting Vehicles. On March 14 he qualified as a gunner II with the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. From July 12-Oct 7 he was attached to No. 3 Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Reserve Unit.

In the Field

When the 1st Hussars landed on the Normandy shores on June 6, 1944, Trooper Lamont was not with them and had remained in England because of a sore foot. When he recovered he joined up with his regiment in France sometime in the first half of July.
Verrieres Ridge was the objective of the 1st Hussars and the infantry. At last light on July 24th the Luftwaffe
bombed the area around Vaucelles and two tanks of the Regiment were destroyed. The morning of the 25th the weather was mostly cloudy but warm.
During the morning of July 25th, “C” Squadron advanced in support of the Royal Regiment of Canada with
its 17 remaining tanks. Their final objective was Rocquancourt. While moving to high ground before
Verrieres, 8 German tanks were spotted and in a few moments all had been destroyed. The Canadian was
firing in support of the advance, but this did not hinder the German attack on the Canadians and the            1st Hussars took out a further 4 enemy tanks. But because of the heavy enemy attack the Canadian advance was halted. To this point 12 German tanks had been destroyed. During this time “C” Squadron found itself in a small farm field that was surrounded by a hedge. When an enemy attack came, the            1st Hussars tried tried to move their tanks down a slope to protect them from the German fire. In just a few moments 7 of the 1st Hussar tanks had been hit and knocked out of action or destroyed.
Trooper Lamont was driving the lead tank or Forward Observation tank and this sharp and bitter
engagement took the life of Trooper Lamont. During this engagement “C” Squadron lost 12 tanks leaving
them with just 5 remaining tanks. The casualties totaled 27. The tank Trooper Lamont was in was destroyed
by a German 88 resulting in the ammunition exploding and the tank burning. They had just begun to engage
the enemy when 2-88 shells struck the tank. Only 2 men from the crew survived. One of the surviving crew
members never could recall anything of the war after that and has no memory of Trooper Lamont. The
remains of Trooper Lamont were never found.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  His mother Margaret received the Memorial Cross in April of 1945. Trooper Lamont was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the France-Germany Star along with the Defence and War medals along with the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp. These were awarded to his mother in October of 1949.

Hector is honoured and remembered on the Seaforth Cenotaph as well as on the Virtual Canadian War Memorial. He is honoured and remembered on the 1st Hussars Memorial. He would be honoured and remembered on the Memorial Plaques of the churches he attended.