McTAVISH, Gordon Howard
NAME McTAVISH Gordon Howard
RANK Lieutenant-Colonel 2nd Canadian Infantry Division SERVICE BRANCH 7th Field Company Corp of Royal Canadian Engineers
“whither right and glory lead”
“everywhere” Born July 31, 1903 - Galt - Township of North Dumfries - County of Waterloo Residence Seaforth - Ontario Died August 19, 1942 39 years 1 month
Memorial Brookwood Memorial - Brookwood Military Cemetery - Brookwood - Surrey - England
Panel 23 Column 2 Wife Mrs. Dorothy McTavish - Wingham / Seaforth / Toronto Parents Mr. Alfred and Ellen McTavish - Brussels - Ontario
Gordon was born on July 31, 1903. He would have attended Northside United Church. Before his enlistment into the Canadian Army he was employed as a merchant.
Canada On January 1, 1938 the 1st Army Troops company organized at London under Major G. H. McTavish. He enlisted into the Canadian Army on September 2, 1939 with the rank Major. At the time he was 5' 8: in height and weighed 230 pounds. He had a dark complexion with brown eyes and hair. Then in1939 they were mobilized as the 7th Canadian Field company under his command. While posted to London he was granted a leave of absence until May 12, 1940 and then is posted to Camp Petawawa with the Royal Canadian Engineers Training Centre.
Overseas
Major McTavish is then ordered on August 20 to proceed to Halifax in preparation for going overseas and two days later he is Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in Canada and embarks from Canada. On August 23 he is Taken on Service with the Canadian Army overseas. Disembarkation took place on September 5 in Gourock - Scotland. On December 2 he proceeds on command to a Photo Reading Course in the field and then on December 4 he proceeds to a Company Commander Course On March 9, 1941 he ceases to be on Command. Then for two days in April he attending an Emergency Cooking Course. His next posting of two days took him to to No. 57 Training Regiment with the Royal Armoured Corps. While there he receives a gunshot wound in his left hand on July 21 and goes to No. 10 Canadian field Ambulance and then goes to the Main Dressing Station. On the following day he is taken to No 5 Casualty Clearing Station and is discharged. He ten is attached on September 2 to the Headquarters of the 2nd Canadians Infantry Division. Between May 17-20, 1942 Major McTavish is attached to the Headquarters of the Royal Canadian Corps of Engineers. The next posting on June 3 send him to the 4th Battalion of Royal Canadian Engineers and he joins his Company the following day. That same day he receives the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel The 4th Canadian Battalion moved to Basingstoke under the command of Major G. H. McTavish.
General Roberts had personally requested McTavish be there with him to assist in the planning of the
Dieppe Raid. During the evening of August 18, 1942, some 6,000 men boarded 252 small craft, and began moving from
Gosport, Portsmouth, Southampton, Shoreham and Newhaven and all were bound for Dieppe. Without
knowing what to expect all would have been anxious, nervous, excited, apprehensive and fearful all at the
same time. As the raid began Lieutenant-Colonel McTavish was aboard a Landing Craft with 44 other sappers and their Landing Craft had bad luck when the first tank to leave the Landing Craft was immobilized just at the end of the ramp and the men from the 7th Field Company - Engineers struggled to move it and were not successful. They were ordered back aboard the Landing Craft. They immediately back off and lay offshore and all the while the shore guns were firing on their craft and the Landing Craft was returning fire with the 2" guns. They tried to get the Commanding Officer of the tanks ashore and came under heavy enemy fire. They were struck by enemy fire several times and the helmsman had been killed and Lieutenant McTavish took the wheel of the Landing Craft and as he directed the run in to the beach he was killed. When they touched the beach the engine quit and the stearing gear was out of action and they began to drift and came under heavy fire again. Many were wounded. The engine was re-started and they were able to move away from the beach and was lashed to a small anti-submarine warship for the journey back to England. Lieutenant-Colonel McTavish was buried at sea in the English Channel
The Engineers on this fateful raid would have come ashore with the first wave and their task was to blow
and smash paths from the beaches inland to the promenade. They had little cover and less chance as the
German fire swept back and forth across the beaches.
Twenty-seven Engineers lost their lives this day with many more being wounded – but they did their duty
under impossible conditions. They died clearing the way for those who were soon to follow.
Providing battle maps; repairing and building roads, airfields, and bridges; clearing mines, road-blocks, and
other obstacles; filling-in craters and anti-tank ditches; and constructing facilities as headquarters, barracks,
and hospitals; these tasks were the Engineers responsibility. Their chief role was for the army to be able to
move so they worked alongside the combat troops at the front, under fire, to open tank routes and infantry
routes.
One of the more significant operations was the Dieppe raid of August 19, 1942, although the 2nd Canadian
Infantry Division’s Engineers were for the most part unable to carry out their planned programs of demolition on the enemy beach defences or inland installations.
. Lieutenant-Colonel McTavish's wife Dorothy and his mother Ellen both received the Memorial Cross in April of 1943. Mahor McTavish was also awarded the 1939-45 Star, the Defence and War Medals along with the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp and these were sent to his wife.
Gordon is honoured and remembered on the Memorial Plaque of Northside United Church and on the Seaforth Cenotaph. He is remembered in the Books of Remembrance located in the Centre Block of Canada's Parliament. He is honoured and remembered on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. He is honoured and remembered on the Canadian Military Engineers Association.
