Name: George William Barter Rank: Private Service Number: F/40131 Service: West Nova Scotia Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: March 21, 1921 Place of Birth: Antigonish, Antigonish Co., NS Date of Enlistment: September 10, 1939 Place of Enlistment: Aldershot, NS Age at Enlistment: 18 Address at Enlistment: Antigonish, Antigonish Co., NS Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Mabel Barter, Antigonish NS (Mother) Occupation: Truck driver, fish hatchery Margaree, Inverness Co., NS (1937-39) Date of Death: July 5, 1943 Age: 22 Cemetery: Cassino War Memorial, Province of Frosinone, Italy Reference: Panel 14 George William Barter was the son of George and Mabel Christina (Turnbull) Barter. His siblings were brothers Stanley Clifford, William Walter, Alistair Graham, John James & Walter Leonard (died October 15, 1927 at age eight), and sisters Vera Constance, Ruth Viola, Chrissie Agnes, Muriel Evelyn & Margaret Rose “Margie” George’s mother, “Mabel was the daughter of Samuel A. Turnbull and Christina Agnes Dewar. The Turnbulls operated Turnbull`s Bakery on College Street, Antigonish. Mabel’s brother, William Turnbull, was a member of the 85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) who served at the front during the First World War. After returning home, he became manager of the fish hatchery at Margaree, Inverness Co., and later oversaw operations at the Frasers Mills fish hatchery. George William Barter’s great-great-grandfather, Jonas Barter, emigrated from England to St. Johns, Newfoundland, where he became a prominent businessman. He passed away in a house fire at Barter Hill, St. Johns, in 1858. George’s grandparents were George Barter and Tryphena Hiscock of St. Johns, Newfoundland. His father, George Alexander Barter, was born in Newfoundland in 1883 and later moved to Glace Bay, NS, where he worked as a baker. George Alexander eventually relocated to Antigonish, where he worked at the Turnbull Bakery and subsequently at the Home Bakery, Main St., Antigonish. George Alexander Barter married Mabel Christina Turnbull, daughter of Samuel Turnbull and Agnes Christina Dewar, at Antigonish on October 3, 1916. Agnes Christina was the daughter of John Dewar, Marshy Hope. The Barter family resided at various locations in Antigonish. They lived at West River, Lochaber, above the Home Bakery on Main Street, and at Lower South River. After George Alexander’s passing in 1941, the family lived at the Frasers Mills fish hatchery with their mother’s brother, William Turnbull, the facility’s manager. After completing Grade 10, George William Barter entered the work force, driving a delivery truck for Home Bakery for a time. In 1937, he was hired as a truck driver at the provincial fish hatchery in Margaree, Inverness County, where his uncle, William Turnbull, was manager. George earned the handsome sum of $21.00 per week while working at the facility. Within months of Canada’s September 10, 1939 declaration of war on Germany, George decided to enlist. He completed his attestation papers at Camp Aldershot, NS, on January 15, 1940. His previous experience as a truck driver prompted military authorities to send George to Camp Borden, ON, where he completed “carrier operator training” from May 15 to 21, achieving a “first class” rating. On June 2, George was attached to the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Centre, Borden, ON. Shortly after his arrival, however, there was a change of direction in his military career path. Struck off strength after less than a week, George travelled by train to Halifax and departed for overseas on June 9. Upon arriving at Liverpool, UK, George joined the 1st Battalion Reinforcement Unit, where he was assigned to “driver” duty. On July 26, he was transferred to the West Nova Scotia Regiment, which had arrived overseas in late December 1939. While the unit consisted mainly of personnel recruited in central and south-western Nova Scotia, a number of Antigonish County men served with the West Novas during their time overseas. George spent almost three years in England with the unit. During that time, he completed several training courses. On October 10, 1941, he was temporarily attached to the Canadian Training School, Bordon, Hants, for a “Driver and Mechanized Course.” In late November, he successfully completed the required testing and was certified as a “Driver of Mechanized Transport, Group C.” In mid-December 1941, George was temporarily attached to No. 2 Canadian Field Hygiene Section for a five-day “water duties” course. On July 15, 1942, he received the designation “Driver I/C [in charge],” which entitled him to operate automobiles, light and heavy trucks, as well as “tracked” vehicles. George and his mates spent another 12 months in England, where they trained in preparation for combat service on the continent. In March 1943, the West Novas participated in a large-scale “land and sea” training exercise in Scotland, followed by a six-week stint of “mountain warfare” training in May. On June 15, personnel returned to Troon, Scotland, for another land and sea exercise. Poor weather delayed the operation until June 23, when the West Novas playing the role of support troops, coming ashore in LCPs [Landing Craft Personnel] and “digging in” above the beach. Five days after the Troon exercise, the men clambered aboard the troop transports and once again headed out to sea in convoy formation. For several days, their destination remained a mystery. Many assumed that they were off to another training exercise. Finally, on July 1, sealed orders were opened at sea, revealing that the soldiers were headed to the Mediterranean theatre. While the details of their impending military assignment were not clear, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, to which the West Novas were attached, and the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade were destined to participate in an amphibian invasion of Sicily, the first phase of an attack on Italy, Nazi Germany’s ally. The invading force sailed in separate convoys, the combat units divided between a “fast assault convoy” that transported the actual invading units and a “slow assault convoy” that carried supporting units and equipment. The latter convoy departed first, allowing sufficient time to reach its destination at the same time as the faster vessels. As a driver, George was aboard the MV Devis, a 6,054-ton motor merchant vessel built at Belfast, Ireland, in 1938. Pressed into service after the outbreak of war, the ship was modified to serve as an “Assault Command Ship.” On board as it departed the United Kingdom were 35 British and 261 Canadian soldiers, 28 crew members, and 4,000 tons of equipment—22 motor transport vehicles, half of the 1st Division’s 17-pounder anti-tank guns, and several field artillery pieces. Two landing craft were strapped to its deck. The naval personnel overseeing the invading force’s transportation were well aware of the dangers lurking in the waters around them. On June 29, two German U-Boat packs were spotted about 200 miles directly ahead of their location. By the time the faster convoy reached the coast of Portugal, submarines were only a few miles away. The convoy of 42 vessels made its way southward, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar on July 3. Meanwhile, the U-Boats monitored their progress, delaying any attack until the slower ships had passed through the Straits. On the evening of July 4, they made their presence known. At 8:47 pm, at a location 10 miles north of Cape Tenes, Algeria, U-375 launched an attack on Convoy KMS-18B, which consisted of three slower vessels carrying cargo and supplies—the City of Venice, St. Essylt, and MV Devis. One torpedo struck and sank the City of Venice. A total of 21 military personnel perished in the sinking, while 461 survivors were rescued by two corvettes, a frigate and tugboat that were nearby. At 9:40 pm, U-375 fired a second spread of four torpedoes, striking and sinking the St. Essylt. The personnel losses were much smaller—only one crew member and one soldier perished, while the surviving 397 soldiers and crew members were hauled aboard the same vessels that rescued the City of Venice’s survivors. Having survived the attack, MV Devis pressed onward into the Mediterranean, but the U-boats continued their pursuit. The following day—July 5, 1943—was bright and sunny, but the conditions did not dissuade the enemy submarines from finishing what they had started the previous evening. At 1543 hours [3:43 pm], the German U-Boat U-593, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Gerd Kepling, fired “two spreads of two torpedoes” at the MV Devis, striking the vessel amidships. The resulting explosion created a fire that ignited petrol and detonated ammunition in its hold. Within minutes, the ship was split in two. Major Douglas Harkness, the Officer Commanding (OC) aboard the vessel, immediately ordered all troops to assemble at the life-boat stations. His main concern was a large group of men trapped on the mess deck below, where fire made it impossible for them to access the stairways to the deck. Under Major Harkness’s direction, men on deck located ropes, dropped them through a hatch above the men’s quarters blown open in the explosion, and managed to rescue some of the survivors below deck. Meanwhile, the fire reached five gun quads loaded with ammunition below deck, resulting in additional explosions. The vessel’s stern was slipping below the waves, water gradually covering its deck. Recognizing that the situation was perilous, Major Harkness ordered all survivors to abandon ship. Once personnel on the fore and aft sections managed to release several large rafts strapped to the deck, the men on deck jumped into the surrounding water and made their way onto the rafts. Twenty minutes after the initial attack, the ship’s bow rose into the air and slipped beneath the water. Several nearby vessels rescued the men from the rafts and surrounding water, a process that took almost two hours. The 290 survivors were transferred to HMS Cleveland and transported to Bougie, Tunisia. A total of 52 men were lost in the incident, the majority of whom were below deck at the time of the attack. Private George William Barter was one of six Nova Scotians who perished during or after the MV Devis’s sinking. A subsequent “Report on Missing Soldier,” dated September 25, 1943, contains a statement from Private A. W. Harris, F/41598, who was below deck with George and Pte. L. J. Smith, F/41646, another West Nova soldier, at the time of the torpedo attack. According to Pte. Harris: “I am sure both [George] and Pte. Smith… were killed immediately by the explosion. I saw them both sitting at a mess table just about the time of the explosion and the table was completely shattered by the blast. Neither of the men were seen by me after the explosion occurred.” An entry in George’s service record, dated July 5, 1943, states that he was “missing at sea.” His father George had passed away on December 19, 1942, the result of a heart attack. A news item in The Casket, dated July 23, 1943, informed local readers: “The first Antigonish boy to be mentioned in the casualty list from Sicily is Private George W. Barter, son of the late Geo. Barter, baker, and Mrs. Barter. Word came to the mother a few days ago that he was ‘missing’.” While no further details were available at the time, The Casket speculated—accurately, as it turned out—that “there is the distressing possibility that he may have been aboard one of the vessels in the invasion fleet torpedoed and sunk. One of these carried Canadian troops, and her loss was announced last Thursday.” An official telegram, dated March 9, 1944, informed Mabel that George, “previously reported missing at sea [, is] now for official purposes presumed killed on War Service.” One month later, military authorities dispatched a Memorial Cross to Mabel, who was residing at Fraser’s Mills at the time. Private George William Barter and his West Nova Scotia comrade Private Leslie James Smith, Annapolis County, NS, are commemorated on the Cassino Memorial, which contains the names of more than 4,000 Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives during the Sicilian and Italian campaigns and have no known graves. A third West Nova soldier, Private Everett Rupert James, Lunenburg County, NS, died of severe burns received following the attack and was laid to rest in La Reunion War Cemetery, Algeria. George’s brother, Stanley Clifford, also served overseas and was wounded in action. Another brother, William Walter, later served with the Canadian Armed Forces, while his remaining two brothers, John James and Alistair, joined with Stanley in purchasing a home for their mother at Lochaber after the war.”