| Rank | Tpr. |
| Service # | 116251 |
| Unit # | 1st Canadian Parachute Batt., C-Company |
The husband of Violet, a war bride, they lived at 60 Garnet Street, in Wallaceburg, ON. and had three children. The son of Armund and Clementine Vandevelde (the family moved to Canada in 1925), living at 872 Forham St., Wallaceburg, Ontario. Auggie” attended Our Lady of Hope separate school. He had three brothers, Peter (Highland Light Infantry), Joseph in 1st Kents and Modest at home and four sisters Mrs. Leona Elliot, Mrs. Palmyr Janssen and Mrs. Matilda Van Kruyssen and Miss Teresa at home.
As a youngster Auggie started in the 1st Kent Regiment at the age of seventeen, enlisting in the Ordinance Corp. And he took his basic training at BTC No. 12 in Chatham.
August enlisted 10/01/1942 at No.1 District Depot, Windsor, ON for active service. In July of 1942 he volunteered for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion had been formed comprising a force of 28 Officers and 590 other ranks, under the command of Col. E. L. M. Burns a 2nd Battalion would be raised that served as the Canadian component of the 1st Special Service Force. The two original groups trained at Fort Benning, Georgia and at RAF Ringway in England. Auggie chose Fort Benning for his training. “where it was warmer”. The soldiers of ‘1st Para.’ were the elite of the Canadian soldiers only 20% of those recruited were selected for airborne training. He would leave for England at the end of 1942 in the advanced party. His Battalion was attached to the British 6th Airborne Division.
In July of 1943 the Battalion was dispatched to England for a years training in preparation for the invasion of mainland Europe under the command of 3rd Parachute Brigade of the British 6th Airborne Division.
“We were given Canadian uniforms and pay, the rest was British equipment. “They retrained us their way. The Americans used two parachutes, a reserve and a back pack; the British only got one. “Our first jumps were from Barrage Balloons 500 feet up. Six men sat in a basket then dropped through s three foot opening in the floor.” They would eventually graduate after jumping from an aircraft.
August was part of the Allied air drop on 6 June, 1944 as part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Under the command of Major H. M. MacLeod C-Company was tasked with securing their DZ (Drop Zone), destroying a German HQ., destroy a radio station at Varaville, then blow up a bridge at Divette and finally join up with the British paratroops at the LaMesnil cross-road all on D-Day.
Auggie was determined to marry before going into action so he and Violet married 15 May 1945 and he was confined to the holding area the 17th of May. Violet working at a rubber works factory in Manchester, England making Barage Balloons, dunny rubber tanks (to confuse the Germans about a possible invasion of France) and dinghies for aircrew that ditched in the oceans.
Later on in the invasion they were involved in ground operations to strengthen the beachhead and support the advance towards the Seine River, which they did. Finally withdrawn from combat on the 6th of September, they returned to Bulford, England for training and re-fit.
What has become known as the “Battle of the Bulge”, actually called the “Ardennes Offensive” which began 16/12/1944 was Hitler’s attempt to stem the tide of the war that was going badly for him by launching an offensive with a great number of tanks and 250,000 troops to cutoff the Canadian 1st Army, American 1st and 9th Army and the British 2nd Army
The 1st Canadian Parachute Bn. Was committed to action on 2 January, 1945 on ground operations patrolling day and night to defend ground that had been won back from the Germans when the skies cleared on 22/12/44 which allowed Allied aircraft to hammer the Germans that were literally running out of gas.
The next and last action the 1st Para saw as paratroops was as part of the 40,000 Allied paratroops and Glider Infantry in 1500 troop-carrying aircraft and gliders that took part in “Operation Varsity” to land troops on the east side of the Rhine River in Germany.
1st Para was to seize and hold an area north of Wesel to Emmerich. August’s C-Company cleared the area in the northern part of the woods near the junction of Rees and Emmerich crossroads which they did under heavy fighting. Despite being dropped some distance from the objective they accomplished the mission, sadly they lost their commanding officer Lt. Col. Jeff Nicklin who was KIA 24/03/45.
With Germany’s surrender the 1st Para’s were the first Canadian unit to be repatriated, boarding the Isle de France 31/05/45 they arrive in Halifax on 21/06/45 and the unit was disbanded on 30/06/1945.
According to family information August was discharged 23/03/1946 from the army, with the 1939-45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal and C.V.S.M and Clasp.. W-RH, R. VaneVeld (son).
In a email from Michelle Carson the grandson of August a number of artifacts of Tpr. Vande Velde’s including his jumping apparel, survival gear and a complete uniform and weaponry have been donated to the Wallaceburg Museum.
A Paratroopes Story.
They had been in a ‘Holding Area’ awaiting for something that they knew was going to be something very big. No mail got into or out of the area. It was very secured. We were briefed on what we could take and knew exactly what each of us was expected to do.
On the 5th of June, 1944 we were headed to the airfields and later that evening we had crossed the Chanel and dropped into France about five minutes to twelve. “Was I scared. Oh, I was scared. Every man was.” Said Auggie. “What I remember is a lot of firing and flak everywhere. We were on the left flank Our job was to keep the Germans from the beaches.”
Auggie was wounded in the shins by flak. Only a quarter of the men landed inside the Drop Zone, the rest were scattered miles away. “We were dropped 40 miles too deep. I had an 80-pound kit bag strapped to my leg that I lowered on a lanyard but everything blew away from me when I hit the ground. I ended up with a forty-five (pistol) and a fighting knife.”
They walked for two days to get to where they were supposed to have landed. “I was one of three snipers assigned to our Battalion. As we went over a hedge row, Bastien, a fellow sniper was killed, so I took his rifle. I had to protect myself and take them out too.”
The Germans had flooded many places and men who happened to land in the flooded areas had a good chance of being drowned, held down by their kit. Others were snagged in trees were shot or if they his a high tension electric wire were taken as POW’s. “We really didn’t have any protection.”
He fought for three months in Normandy and lost 50% of their force that parashuted into Normandy. They did however achieve all of their objectives as assigned to them – “batteries captured, guns destroyed, three bridges demolished and they held their ground.
Later on in the invasion they were involved in ground operations to strengthen the beachhead and support the advance towards the Seine River, which they did. Finally withdrawn from combat on the 6th of September, they returned to Bulford, England for training and re-fit.
“Our second operation was in the winter of 1944, near Christmas, when we were sent into the Ardnennes for the Battle of the Bulge. We couldn’t fly in due to the heavy fog so we went over by boat landing in Ostend. It was the coldest winter in military history. We couldn’t dig a fox hole, the ground was too frozen.”
Hitler’s attempt to stem the tide of the war that was going badly for him by launching an offensive with a great number of tanks and 250,000 troops to cutoff the Canadian 1st Army, American 1st and 9th Army and the British 2nd Army
The 1st Canadian Parachute Bn. Was committed to action on 2 January, 1945 on ground operations patrolling day and night to defend ground that had been won back from the Germans when the skies cleared on 22/12/44 which allowed Allied aircraft to hammer the Germans that were literally running out of gas.
“The attack on Hitler’s last major defensive line was an 18-mile front around Wesel, Germany. We were to isolate the Ruhr industrial area and penetrate deep into Germany. Our 1st Parachute Battalion was key to winning this decisive battle. 600 men were dropped just north of Diersfordt Wood on the morning of 24 March, 1945 as part of a force of nearly 3,000 planes and gliders.”
The next and last action the 1st Para saw as paratroops was as part of the 40,000 Allied paratroops and Glider Infantry in 1500 troop-carrying aircraft and gliders that took part in “Operation Varsity” to land troops on the east side of the Rhine River in Germany.
“We dropped over the line into Wissmar and dispersed from there on foot and fought our way to the Baltic where we met up with the Russians in May . That’s when the War ended.”
1st Para was to seize and hold an area north of Wesel to Emmerich. August’s C-Company cleared the area in the northern part of the woods near the junction of Rees and Emmerich crossroads which they did under heavy fighting. Despite being dropped some distance from the objective they accomplished the mission, sadly they lost their commanding officer Lt. Col. Jeff Nicklin who was KIA 24/03/45.
With Germany’s surrender the 1st Para’s were the first Canadian unit to be repatriated, boarding the Isle de France 31/05/45 they arrive in Halifax on 21/06/45 and the unit was disbanded on 30/06/1945. Auggie returned to Wallaceburg in March of 1946 and Violet his ‘War Bride’ came over later with their first son.
According to family information August was discharged 23/03/1946 from the army, with the 1939-45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal and C.V.S.M and Clasp.. W-RH, R. VaneVelde (son)
In a email from Michelle Carson the grandson of August a number of artifacts of Tpr. Vande Velde’s including his jumping apparel, survival gear and a complete uniform and weaponry have been donated to the Wallaceburg Museum
Cuators Note: – Thanks to Sharron Kornacker for giving GOH permission to use information that she had gathered from Interview Auggie for the “Mostly For Seniors – Chatham Kent”. A weekly paper in this case from 10 December, 2004 that for whatever reason I had kept for just such an occasion to add to Auggie Vande Velde’s story. Thanks Sharon. JRH.
This was just too good not to use most of the article, which was covered in the BLACK bits.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
| Awards | 1939-45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal |
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