Sources: Library and Archives Canada Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave

Name: Vilhelm Kruuse Boggild Rank: Corporal Service Number: F/66822 Service: North Nova Scotia Highlanders, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: January 5, 1925 Place of Birth: Randers, Jutland Peninsula, Denmark Date of Enlistment: August 3, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Yarmouth, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Lockeport, Shelburne Co., Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 17 Height: 5 feet, 8 ½ inches Complexion: Medium Eye Colour: Hazel Hair Colour: Blonde Occupation: Camp Clerk Marital Status: Single Religion: United Church Next of Kin: Hans Christensen Boggild (Father), Lockeport, NS Date of Death: March 25, 1945 Age: 20 Cemetery: Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands Grave: XIX. A. 4. Commemorated on Page 496 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on October 22 Vilhelm Kruuse Boggild was the son of Hans C. Boggild (1895-1987) and Esther Fjerdingstad Boggild (1897- 1987), of Lockeport, Nova Scotia. His siblings were Kai Hugh Boggild (1920-2002), Carl Clifford Boggild (1922-2019) and Paul Sigurd Boggild (1928-1998). Kai was born in England where his parents married, and Vilhelm, Carl, and Paul were born in Denmark. The family immigrated from Denmark to Canada in the late 1920’s. 1928 Immigration records specify that Vilhelm’s mother Esther and her three sons’ final destination was Tusket, in Yarmouth Co., NS, where his father was already living and employed by Peter George Boutilier (1888-1974) at the Cedar Lake Lumber Camp. The family lived in Yarmouth County from 1928-1930 and by 1931, the family was living in Green Harbour, Shelburne Co. NS. Vilhelm’s brother Kai served as a Lieutenant (N), RCNVR and his service included time at HMS Dryad, home to the Royal Navy's Maritime Warfare School at Southwick House in Hampshire, England, during the Second World War. He later served at a number of naval posts and ship assignments including as Captain of HMCS Provider (508) from 1964-1966. Vilhelm’s brother Carl also served in the RCAF. After high school, Carl worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia and W. H. Schwartz & Sons. He enlisted in the RCAF in January 1942, promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. On his sixth sortie as a navigator in a Lancaster bomber, he was shot down over Nuremberg. He evaded capture by hiding in barns in the German countryside until he was discovered on August 28, 1943, and was sent to Stalag Luft III. He was one of the prisoners who worked on the famous "Great Escape" of March 1944, but he was always grateful that he "didn't draw a straw" for the escape. When the Germans were later relocating the camp due to the proximity of Allied forces, Carl and a fellow prisoner did manage to escape and Carl returned to England in early May 1945. It was then that he learned the sad news that his brother Vilhelm, enlisted in the Army, had been killed in March 1945. Vilhelm completed grade 11 with chemistry, math, and physics at the age of 17 at the Lockport High School. He enjoyed swimming, hunting, and fishing and played baseball, and hockey on the high school team. He worked 4 summers in a fish plant, worked for 6 months as a timekeeper with the R.C.E. in Shelburne, NS, and was employed for a year as a camp clerk at the Mersey Paper Co. lumber camp in Caledonia, Queens Co., NS, before his enlistment in the Canadian Army. He noted that he intended to take a university course in forestry after the war. He completed his basic training in Yarmouth, NS, at the No. 60 Canadian Infantry Basic Training Centre (CIBTC No. 60), also known as Camp 60 from August 20 to September 28, 1943, and additional training in Canada, before departing for overseas on October 4, 1944, and disembarking in England on October 12, 1944. He served with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (NNSH), and subsequently departed the UK November 10, 1944, and landing in continental North West Europe the next day. Vilhelm was killed in the Battle of Bienen in Germany, the NNSH’s first battle on the east bank of the Rhine. He is interred at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. There is also a memorial in memory of soldiers of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders that died on March 25, 1945, located Bienen, Germany.