Name: Arthur Thomas Jackson Rank: Sapper Service Number: F/86600 Service: 6th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, Canadian Army Awards: 1939-45 Star, France, and Germany Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, War Medal 1939-45 Date of Birth: December 7, 1912 Place of Birth: Shelburne, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: July 2, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Bridgewater, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 28 Address at Enlistment: Shelburne, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia Height: 5 feet, 6 inches Complexion: Ruddy Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Hazel Occupation: Carpenter Marital Status: Married Religion: Church of England Next of Kin: Mary Ellen Jackson (Wife) Date of Death: June 6, 1944 Age: 31 Cemetery: Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, France Grave: Section II, Row F, Grave 6 Commemorated on Page 343 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on July 24 Arthur Thomas Jackson was the son of Albert Lewis Jackson (1886-1939) and Christina ‘Crissie’ Mae Leuritia (Buchanan) Jackson (1892-1927) of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. He was one of nine children, Lewis Albert, Douglas Norman, Alex Nelson, Robie Adelbert, William, Earle, and Bruce, Ada Mae (Jackson) Manuel and Alice Jackson. Arthur married Mary Ellen Crowell (1919-2016) in 1936 and they had two daughters, Sandra Diane (b. 1937) and Barbara Mae (b. 1942), and a son, Albert Eugene (b. 1938). Arthur’s uncle Sergeant Roy Jackson (his father’s brother) served in the US Army during the Mexican Punitive Expedition and the First World War, and all seven of Arthur’s brothers served in the Canadian Army. Before the war, Arthur worked as a carpenter at the W C McKay Shipyard in Shelburne and trained with the militia before he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Engineers in Bridgewater on 6 July 1941. After his initial training, he was posted to the 7th Construction Company and on 12 March 1942 he was a sapper undergoing training at Petawawa ON. On his arrival in the UK in late 1942, Arthur was initially posted to the 6th Field Park Company and was transferred to 6th Field Company on 17 December 1944. When he joined the Company on the Isle of Wight, they were well advanced into training for their planned part in the assault in Normandy. Arthur was assigned to 2 Platoon – that was to be the assault platoon in the first wave on D-Day. His six-man engineer team was in support of 10 Platoon of B Company of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles. Sapper Arthur Thomas Jackson was mortally wounded by German machine gun fire during the beach landing and died a short time later. The engineers were outfitted with normal gear plus engineer equipment, which included General Wade charges, Beehives, and detonators. A sapper carried between 65-70 pounds of gear on D-Day and the sight of this overwhelming amount of gear made the Sapper a prime target for any enemy rifleman or machine gunner who assumed the load was vital to the progress of the assault. According to the 6th Field Engineer Squadron Museum Association, Arthur was the first official Canadian casualty of the assault, and was initially buried in the orchard of Mr. Guddeville in Graye-sur-Mer, moved to the Bernières-sur-Mer White Beach Cemetery, and later reinterred at the Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France; one of eleven casualties with ties to Nova Scotia interred at the cemetery.

Sources: Commonwealth War Graves Commission D-Day casualties with ties to Nova Scotia The Canadian Military Engineers Association findagrave Canadian Virtual War Memorial Portugal, Jean E. We Were There The Army-6A Record for Canada, (Ontario: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998). P. 2733-2734