Corporal Preston Duncan Campbell
Shipping Out
On completion of driver training at S5 Canadian Driver and Maintenance School in Woodstock, Ontario, Preston was granted 2 weeks leave from the 7th to 21st of August. There are no records to indicate what he got up to during this period, but it would be reasonable to assume that he went to visit his family in Milo. If so, it was the last time his mother, father, sister and relatives would have seen him.
His older sister, Mary, had been married to Grover Cleveland MacDonald nearly 10 years by this point in 1944 and already had a small brood of kids running around her house in O'Leary, PEI. Six of an eventual family of 11 children had already been born to Mary and Grover (Arnold, Gordon, Keir, Major, Florence and Shirley) and no doubt Preston would have been a regular presence in their lives prior to being conscripted. No doubt she would have wanted them all to see Preston and wish him well before he left.
On the 4th of August, 1944, Preston officially became part of the Canadian Army Overseas and departed Canada en route to England.
O'er the Waves
One of the gaps in my knowledge of Uncle Preston's wartime service is the exact details of his transition from Canada to the European theatre. It is safe to assume, as with most troops going to join the Active Service Army, that he would have departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia through the famed Pier 21.
In any case, what I do know is that he would have departed Canada on or about the 4th of August, 1944. This is the date in which he was 'Stricken Off Service' from the Canadian Army - Canada, according to his service records. He disembarked in the UK, likely at Liverpool where most of the troop ships arrived, on the 10th of August - a journey across the Atlantic of some six days. On the 11th of August, 1944, Private Campbell reported for Duty and his Active Service experience began.
23 Days in Ol' Blighty
On arrival in England, Preston joined a middle-man handling unit known as 4th Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit (4CIRU). I have not been able to learn much about these reinforcement units in England, and it is an area for me to do further research.
Preston's stay with 4 CIRU was short lived; on 2nd September he posted from that unit to the 2nd Canadian Base Reinforcement Group (2CBRG). The next day, September 3rd, 1944, Preston embarked for France. He arrived in France the following day, exactly 1 month after leaving Canada.
The Frontline
Arriving in France on the 4th of September, 1944, Preston was taken on strength of 2nd Canadian Base Reinforcement Group (2CBRG), another holding area for reinforcements before they were dispatched to their operational units.
While other reinforcements in 1943 and earlier in 1944 might have had to wait many weeks or months either in England or France before joining their units, Preston arrived at a time when the Germans were in retreat, and the infantry battalions of II Canadian Corps were badly in need of reinforcement. (More on this later)
Preston spent only 11 days with 2CBRG before heading to the frontline to join his new unit, The Algonquin Regiment. Nearly three years after Preston was initially conscripted, he was about to put all his training and preparation to the test. He wouldn't have long to wait to have his mettle tested.