LONG BRANCH Family loses father and two sons due to war. Military photos.
July is always an emotional month for the Stewart family of Long Branch.
It was in July 1944 the Stewart family lost two sons in the Second World War. Their dad was also killed in battle just weeks before.
Long Branch residents David Dudley and Mary Lillian Stewart had four daughters: Lillian, Mabel, Gertrude and Helen, and two sons, David Henry and George Edwin.
The community stood firm and grieved with the Stewart family when Dudley and sons, David and George, after being killed abroad five days after their father died in WWII.
Lance Sergeant David Dudley Arthur Stewart Sr., served with 15 Canadian General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He died on October, 18, 1942 at the age of 45.
David Dudley Sr., was single and a clerk at Eaton’s, when he enlisted in the First World War at age 20 in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). After arriving in England in April 1917, his chronic bronchitis led to lung tuberculosis. He returned to Canada for medical treatment.
ANOTHER SON GONE. Mom Mary Lillian almost fainted when told she had lost her hubby and two sons. Toronto Star photo.
He then enlisted in 1939 during the Second World War. He served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps that was responsible for all medical and dental services in the Army. The Corps delivered the wounded to battlefield medical stations (Casualty Clearing Stations), or to hospitals for more intensive medical care.
David Sr. would years later be joined in the battlefield by his son, who left behind in Long Branch their mom and sisters.
The boys’ mom Mary Lillian almost feinted and said she “lost everything she had to live for,” after being told of the death of her husband and sons by a newspaper reporter.
First son David Henry enlisted in March 1942 at age 26 in the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry as a Lance Corporal. His brother George Edwin would enlist in September 1942, at age 20, as a Gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery.
MANY MOURNERS showed up in Long Branch to help Mary and her family mourn.
A month after George Edwin enlisted, his father David Sr., died in England in October 1942. He is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery, in Surrey, the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the U.K.
Both Stewart brothers perished five days apart in the Normandy campaign: George Edwin died at age 22 on July 21, 1944, followed by his brother David Henry who died at age 27 on July 25, 1944.
David Henry Sr. is buried in Bretteville-Sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in Calvados, France among the almost 3,000 casualties. His brother, George, is memorialized at the Bayeux Memorial also in Calvados, erected in honour of more than 1,800 who died with no known graves.
Mary Lillian lost both her husband and her sons, and four girls lost their father and brothers. The sacrifice of this family can never be forgotten.