BENDALL, Charles Henry

NAME                  BENDALL           Charles Henry
RANK                  Private                68193                                                                                                                                              2nd Canadian Infantry Division - 4th Infantry Brigade
REGIMENT         The Royal Regiment of Canada
                            “Ready, Aye Ready”
                             Royal Canadian Infantry Corp.                                                                                                  Born                     February 22, 1921 - Sutton West - Township of North Gwillimbury - County of York      Residence            Toronto -  Ontario                                                                                                                      Died                      August 19, 1942          21 years   5 months                      
Cemetery             Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery - Hautot-Sur-Mer - Dieppe - France                                                                       E 44
                            The cemetery is known locally as the Cemetery of Virtue.
Parents                Mr. Arthur and Cissie Bendall - Puslinch /Toronto / Goderich.                                            Brothers               Thomas Bendall was a prisoner of war overseas.                                                                                                       William lives in Toronto                                                                                                                                               Peter lived with the family in Puslinch                                                                                  Sisters                  Marjories, Hilda and Ivy lived at home in Puslinch.

Charles was born on February 22, 1921 and attended the United Church. He left his schooling at the age of 16 at the end of grade 11. Following school he worked as a farm labourer and prior to his enlistment he was a machine operator at the Toronto Rubber Company. He was a volunteer in the Militia from 1936-37 with the Royal Regiment of Canada..

Canada 

He enlisted into the Canadian Army on June 5, 1941 and at that time was 5' 10" and his weight was 155 pounds. He had a fair complexion with hazel eyes and fair hair. His rank was Private. He was sent to No. 2 District Depot in Toronto and attached to the Royal Regiment of Canada. Near the end of June on the 27th he was posted to No. 22 Canadian Army Educational Basic Training Centre in North Bay - Ontario and he was stationed here for two months. Then on August 27 he was transferred to No. 11 Canadian Infantry Training Centre based at Camp Borden - Ontario. For five weeks he trained here until October 3 and at that time Private Bendall was Taken on Service with the Royal Regiment of Canada Reinforcement Unit overseas. 

Overseas

Private Bendall on October 5 was Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in Canada and he embarked from Canada for overseas. While at sea the following day he was Taken on Service with the Canadian Army overseas. He disembarked in the United Kingdom on October 19. He proceeded to No. 1 Canadian Infantry Holding Unit. On December 5 the 2nd Canadian Division Infantry Reinforcement Unit.                                                          Private Bendall was Taken on Service with the Royal Regiment of Canada on January 15, 1942 and approximately two weeks later joined his unit. From May 27-June 1 the Regiment was at Golden Hill Camp on the Isle of Wight

In the Field

The Royal Regiment of Canada embarked from the south coast of England on August 18 for a raid against the enemy along the French coast. This raid on the French port of Dieppe was known as “Operation Jubilee” and was a complete and total failure costing our Canadians unnecessary loss of life. The German Command were aware of the plan and had been for quite some time and was waiting for the Canadians to hit the beaches.
The objective of the RCR was to attack Puys on Blue Beach and this was the eastern flank of the attack.
They were to be supported by machine guns and some light artillery and their main objective was to secure
the headlands and destroy the enemy machine gun posts, heavy and light flak guns, a 4 gun battery and to
protect the engineering demolition party. Their particular landing beach was very narrow and overlooked by tall cliffs and at the head of the beach was a 12 - foot wall with a heavy barbed wire. The Germans were waiting with everything they had, as the RCRs were late and landed after the main attack, so there was absolutely no surprise. They were met by machine gun fire and many were dying in their landing crafts. A very few were able to make it to the wall. Apparently all that one could see were the white tracers from the German positions and that is all they had to shoot at. About 20 of the Royal Regiment of Canada were able to go over the wall and then advance toward the tops of the cliffs to capture 2 enemy positions. They were immediately surrounded and surrendered when there was no possible escape route.
The Regiment began the attack with 554 men and came back with only 65. That is a about an 88% loss rate.
Those killed numbered 200 and there were 280 prisoners of war. The total number of men who landed on the beaches numbered 5,000 with only 2,200 men returning back to England. By early afternoon the tallies were 900 killed, 1,000 being wounded and 1,900 being taken as .,prisoners of war.

During the month of March 1943, Mrs. Bendall was awarded the Memorial Cross and this was followed at a later date by the medals awarded to Private Bendall which included the 1939-45 Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp.

Charles is honoured and remembered on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, in the Books of Remembrance located on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and at the Museum "Le Memorial du 19 aout 1942 in Deippe - France and in the Royal Regiment of Canada Museum in Toronto - Ontario and in the the book titles "Always Ready" the History of the Royal Regiment of Canada.