Corporal Preston Duncan Campbell
Groesbeek
Final Resting Place of Corporal PD Campbell
Corporal Preston Duncan Campbell, F4972, did not live to see his mates finally capture Veen, the last remaining roadblock for 1st Cdn Army into Xanten. He would not get to see the Algonquins and the rest of his 1st Canadian Army colleagues march triumphantly across the Rhine and into Germany's heartland. At some point in the fighting on the 8th of March, while 'C' Company was pinned down throughout the day, Preston had been killed by the intense sniper fire from the German stronghold. He was buried on 13 March 1945 with full military honours at the churchyard in the nearby town of Sonsbeck. He was later exhumed and transferred to his current and final resting place at Groesbeek War Cemetary (near Nijmegen, Netherlands) as part of the Commonwelath War Graves Commission.
While the date of transfer of Preston's remains to Groesbeek is unkown, the CWGC wrote to Preston's parents on 10 July 1946 to indicate that he had just been moved and so it seems reasonable to assume that at some point in the first two weeks of July 1946 the transfer was completed.
The Letter to Home
Preston's Company Commander, Major Clark B. Robertson, wrote to his mother, Jane, on the 16th of March - three days after he had been buried and a week after he had been killed. The letter is transcribed below.
Dear Mrs. Campbell,
On behalf of the officers and men of 'C' Coy I wish to express our sympathy to you on the death of your son, 'P.D'.
'P.D.' was a wonderful soldier. The men in his section idolized him and would follow him anywhere. He was a wonderful leader. As a man, no one could ask for a cleaner living person.
'P.D.' was killed by a sniper in an attack on the outskirts of Veen, Germany.
The attack started off initially with two Coys (companies). Each gained their objective but in between the two positions was a fortified house in which there were still some Germans. 'P.D.'s platoon was given the task of clearing this house. As the platoon was coming close to the house a sniper opened up. 'P.D.' was hit in the head and died instantly.
'P.D.' is buried in the churchyard in Sonsberg (sic), Germany. He was buried with full military honours.
Again I wish to express our sympathy to you. If there are any questions you would like to ask please don't hesitate to write.
Sincerely,
Clark Robertson
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |
A Visit to Groesbeek
On 28 January, 2008, I had the honour of visiting Uncle Preston's final resting place. It was an odyssey that I felt was long overdue and I felt extremely proud to see Preston's name engraved in that hallowed place. What was striking for me at the time, was the sheer number of headstones in that place, the vast majority of whom were Canadians, and a large number of whom were fellow members of the Algonquin Regiment. What was also striking, was how many of them had died on around the same date, during Operation BLOCKBUSTER. Statistics on a page simply do not have the impact of seeing row after row of headstones.
And while at that time, I thought this visit would somehow provide me closure on a long-unanswered question, in reality it just sparked new questions for me. Those questions eventually led me down the path of wanting to understand in detail the ordeal Preston went through. The completion of this project, which I started in March 2019 as the world was first being introduced to COVID lockdowns, is the end product of my search to answer these questions.
More importantly, this website, dedicated to Uncle Preston's service, should allow other members of our family, and other researchers of the Algonquin Regiment, to find answers to their own questions. I hope for Uncle Preston's sake that you all take the time in your busy lives to read these pages, and remember. Educate our children - about War and its horrors, and about what Canada's role was in that theatre of operations, in Nothwestern Europe in 1944 and 1945. Most critically, ensure you take the time to understand the impact this war had on millions of other young men and women, their families and their loved ones across the world.
LEST WE FORGET