Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Service No.
Rank
Service
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Date of Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
Date of Death
Age
Cemetery/Memorial
Grave Reference
Source:
United Nations Cemetery
Clyde Reginald Cruickshanks
3530798
Lance Corporal
Royal Ulster Rifles
1918
Halifax, Nova Scotia
November 27, 1950
32
United Nations Memorial Cemetery (Busan), South Korea
7808
Lance Corporal Cruickshanks was the son of Adam Joseph Cruickshanks (d. July 17, 1936) and
Bertha Veronica Cruickshanks of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On March 12, 1939 Clyde sailed from Halifax, NS to England where he joined the Manchester
Regiment at Ashton-Under-Lyne. He underwent six months of military training and with the outbreak of
war in September 1939 he was posted to the 2nd Battalion and sent to France where on the borders of
France and Belgium their first duties were building fortifications (pill boxes, tank traps). This continued
until December 19, 1939 where in front of the Maginot Line on outpost duty they encountered German
Patrols. Clyde believed his platoon was the first to fight German soldiers in WWII. They held the
territory until relieved by the Cheshire Regiment and moved back to their former position on the Belgian
frontier.
Called upon to re-enforce the 1st Division at Wavry, Belgium, after three days of heavy fighting the
troops were forced back and Clyde’s “D” Company was ordered to hold the line. On May 26, 1940 he
was taken prisoner by the Germans and held until liberated by the Americans in April, 1945.
With the end of WWII, Clyder returned to Halifax, NS for a time and then went back to the United
Kingdom. He was married in Scotland on November 9, 1945. At his death he was the father of three
children.
In 1950, while serving with the Royal Ulster Rifles in Korea, he was killed in action on November
27, 1950.
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Remembering the Korean War
Korean War Casualties with a Nova Scotia Connection