Name: Harold Thomas Lewis Rank: Private Service Number: G/32609 Service: North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Awards: 1939-45 Star, France, and Germany Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, War Medal 1939-45 Date of Birth: January 12, 1919 Place of Birth: Port Lorne, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: July 10, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Saint John, St John County, New Brunswick Age at Enlistment: 21 Address at Enlistment: Saint John, St John County, New Brunswick Height: 5 feet, 1 ½ inches Complexion: Light Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Blue Occupation: Fisherman Marital Status: Married Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: Elsie May Lewis (Wife) Date of Death: June 6, 1944 Age: 25 Cemetery: Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Reviers, France Grave: Section I, Row D, Grave 4 Commemorated on Page 365 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on August 4 Harold Thomas Lewis was the son of Amos Boswell Lewis (1876-1938) and Blinda Alice ‘Linnie’ (Sabean) Lewis (1877-1966), of Port Lorne, Annapolis Co., Nova Scotia, the twin brother of Arnold, and the husband of Elsie Mae (Sabean) Lewis Amero (1919-1996), of Port Lorne. Elsie was born in Port Lorne and died in Yarmouth, NS, in 1996. Amos was a seaman and farmer; one of ten children. His Brother Raymond served with the Canadian Army in WWII. Records show that Harold left school at age fourteen and worked for the next seven years as a fisherman. On January 5, 1938, he married Elsie May Sabean, and later that same year Harold’s father died. Harold enlisted with the Saint John Fusiliers (Machine Gun) Regiment in Saint John in July 1940. Basic training was completed at Saint John and, afterward, he was assigned the rank of gunner and placed with the 4th Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery. In July of 1943, Harold was sent overseas. In the United Kingdom he was transferred to the Canadian Infantry Reserve Unit (CIRU) and a month later placed with the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment. The regiment spent the next ten months in intensive physical training and rehearsing beach landings throughout England and Scotland. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Harold landed in Normandy near the village of Saint Aubin-sur-Mer with B Company under the command of Major Bob Forbes. A and B Companies were the first units to come ashore. At about 8 a.m. their landing craft doors opened, and the men poured out under heavy fire from artillery, mortars, and machine guns. They scrambled over barriers, mines, and booby-traps and ran for the security of the seawall. For B Company, there were few casualties during the dash across the beach. Most made it to the wall, but they now stalled and soon D Company was coming in behind them. Using explosives and wire cutters, B Company cut a path into the village. They now pushed into the streets with orders to eliminate a large strong point that included two 75 mm guns, 50 mm guns, as well as mortars and machine guns. All were firing on the beach and the landing craft. The gun positions and some of the houses were connected by a network of tunnels and the Germans could easily relocate men to strengthen a position under attack. For this reason, some positions were captured and then lost again. Snipers were also deadly and using the tunnels, they kept moving to different positions. Tanks and mortars destroyed the two 75 mm guns but progress against the other guns was slow. To eliminate the final gun a building was demolished to create a clear field of fire. Anti- tank guns then finished the job, and the strongpoint was silent. The War Diary records that by 11:15 a.m., Hitler’s Atlantic Wall had been broken, all Company objectives had been achieved, and the North Shore (NB) Regiment was in control of Saint Aubin. Records show that B Company suffered thirty-six casualties on D-Day. Eight were fatal. Private Harold Thomas Lewis was killed in action on the beach. He was initially buried in a battlefield cemetery, and later reinterred at the Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France; one of the eleven casualties of June 6, 1944, with ties to Nova Scotia interred at the cemetery. His name is also listed on one of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment monument along the seawall in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France. The inscription on his grave, “Today recalls sad memories of a dear husband at rest. Those who think of him today are those who loved him best.”

Sources: D-Day casualties with ties to Nova Scotia findagrave - Harold Thomas Lewis findagrave – Elsie May Sabean Lewis Canadian Virtual War Memorial