Ed Bennett, Tyler Todd and Andrew Jackson
Three stories -- all quite different and just one of the three is a Second World War item, but all are important to Oxford County.
For Mr. Ed Bennett, please read the Oxford archives piece included here.
I will always remember Remembrance Day of 2010. As a member of the on-air broadcast team for the London Knights on Rogers TV, I was invited to the Remembrance Day ceremony at Parkwood Hospital in London as Rick Doyle's wife Janice was a RN there. While the focus on this healthcare centre has evolved in the past 14 years, back in 2010 it was the home mostly to veterans of many world combat theatres and most especially World War II. Ed Bennett -- from Woodstock -- was residing at Parkwood, but I didn't see him in the congregation of veterans that morning. Sadly, I would discover later that day, Ed Bennett passed away that day at the age of 87. Another hero gone.
Bennett had been a prisoner of war and his story is something every Canadian should read.
I was able to spend time with Bennett and not through him regaling his past in the military but rather his past in athletics. Ed Bennett was a member of the 1931 Canadian junior football champion Woodstock Grads, he was among the founders of the local YMCA, he was a member of the old Woodstock Ski Club executive, was a proficient golfer at Craigowan, and an accomplished hockey player.
Bennett in Woodstock history became such an integral individual in the early 1980s when he led a committee which repatriated Joseph Whiteside 'Klondike Joe' Boyle to Woodstock for re-burial. Boyle had died in England in 1923 but is now greatly honoured in the Presbyterian cemetery on Vansittart.
Bennett would comment to me that I reminded him of Boyle's stature and that's when Ed Bennett spoke at the inauguration of Boyle to the Woodstock Sports Wall Of Fame. You may recall that Boyle was horse trainer, boxing promoter and manager of the Dawson City Nuggets hockey club which challenged for the Stanley Cup in 1905. By the way, there are many great books about Boyle, but I'm getting off topic.
Bennett's war heroics revolved around the Oxford Rifles, the Canadian Tank brigade, and the Calgary Regiment's advancements at Dieppe in 1942. Bennett was blinded in one eye due to a cylinder exploding. He would be an advisor for the CBC on a documentary about those times and other moments including time as a prisoner of war.
Ed Bennett would work in the insurance business after returning to Woodstock. His wife Lee was prominent in Woodstock Little Theatre (Theatre Woodstock) and was librarian at Woodstock Public Library.
https://archives.oxfordcounty.ca/blog/edwin-bennett/
https://memorials.smithleroy.com/edwin-bennett/3949754/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TYLER TODD
Huron Park Secondary School grad Tyler Todd was killed in Afghanistan. Todd was from Bright and grew up on a dairy farm. Todd was a member of the famed 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry unit (Based in Edmonton). He died at just 26 as a road-side bomb exploded. The date was April 11, 2010. Private Todd was on foot patrol and was Canada's 142nd casualty in Afghanistan. The team Todd was with that day were not on an offensive movement, but as the story attached here notes they were visiting a city to tabulate a list of resources the citizens there in Belanday might be requiring.
My recollections of that time would again be about sacrifice as Tyler Todd could have continued as a dairy farmer or became a firefighter as his education after high school would note, but instead he signed up for several tours in Kandahar. He initially joined the Canadian Army in 2017.
Included is a link to the Macleans magazine story about Todd and his return along the Highway 401's Highway Of Heroes (Technically it's the portion of the highway from CFB Trenton to Toronto's coroner office).
Thanks to associations like Wounded Warriors Canada, the nearby village of Plattsville has hosted a hockey tournament to honour Tyler Todd -- an event which raised important dollars for veterans of more recent conflicts for on-going healthcare including mental health concerns.
Artist Dave Sopha of Cambridge had created a collage painting of more than 150 Canadians who did in Afghanistan and that portrait was on display at the Plattsville rink. Sadly, Sopha passed away from cancer in 2021.
https://macleans.ca/news/canada/the-return-of-private-todd/
https://woundedwarriors.ca/community-comes-together-in-memory-of-local-soldier/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ANDREW JACKSON
While Ed Bennett returned home from World War II and Bright's Tyler Todd was killed in Afghanistan, my third tribute is to Woodstock's Andrew Jackson who returned alive from serving in Canada's forces in Afghanistan.
However, it's not a content ending as Andrew Jackson died March 18, 2022. After 12 years in uniform, Jackson was retired from serving and it was noted he had gained the level of master corporal. Jackson was just 36.
I consider his dad Brian and step-mom Joyce good friends through many connections including the Terry Fox Run as cancer has been sadly a long time connection to their families, including Joyce's Garner family.
His obit said: "He left us peacefully in his sleep. Heaven has gained another angel. Andrew had a heart of gold -he loved his family and friends enormously! He was passionate about his country and proudly served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 12 years, fighting in the Afghanistan war in 2009. Andrew was courageous, had a terrific sense of humour and a beaming smile from ear to ear. Although Andrew was left with some challenges related to serving in the military, he continued to fight for what he believed in. . . Many friends are left to mourn his passing. Rest in peace, Andrew. You are dearly missed by everyone who had the pleasure to know you."
Jackson had connections to Parkwood in London with the OSI group -- Operational Stress Injury Clinic -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
His death notice from the Canadian Military Engineers Association noted Jackson's tenure at Gagetown in New Brunswick and the fact he served in Afghanistan in 2009 as a member of the Expedient Route Opening Capability (EROC).
Joyce Jackson was Woodstock's Silver Cross Mother on Remembrance Day in 2022.
No comments:
Post a Comment