My VAC Account
My VAC AccountJ. CAMPBELL
CLOUSTON
1900-1940
HÉROS DE CHEZ NOUS
Né et élevé à Montréal, Campbell Clouston participa à des courses de voiliers sur le lac Saint-Louis pendant sa jeunesse. Il fréquenta le Lower Canada College et l’Université McGill avant de s’enrôler dans la Marine royale britannique en 1918. Pendant les vingt années suivantes, il progressa dans les rangs d’officiers et prit le commandement du destroyer HMS Isis en 1937.
En 1940, les forces allemandes gagnèrent du terrain, repoussant les soldats britanniques, français et belges sur la côte à Dunkerque en France. Le capitaine de frégate Clouston participa à l’opération Dynamo (26 mai – 4 juin) pour évacuer les troupes alliées prises au piège. À titre de responsable de la jetée de l’est, un brise-lame en guise de quai, il travailla sans relâche pendant six jours sous les tirs ennemis. Faisant preuve de courage, il organisa et supervisa ainsi l’embarquement des soldats sur les bateaux.
Alors que l’on prévoyait l’évacuation de 45 000 soldats, le « Miracle de Dunkerque » contribua à sauver la vie de plus de 338 000 soldats. La majorité embarqua à partir de la jetée de l’est, sous le commandement de Clouston. À la suite d’une brève réunion en Angleterre, lors de son retour vers Dunkerque pour coordonner l’évacuation des derniers soldats français et belges le 2 juin, son bateau fut ciblé par des avions ennemis et il coula. Campbell Clouston périt en mer.
HOMETOWN HERO
Born and raised in Montreal, Campbell Clouston raced sailboats on Lake Saint Louis in his youth and later attended Lower Canada College and McGill University before enlisting in Britain’s Royal Navy in 1918. Over the next two decades, he rose through the officer ranks and was appointed to command the destroyer HMS Isis in 1937.
In 1940, as British, French and Belgian soldiers were pushed back to the coast of France at Dunkirk by advancing German forces, Commander Clouston took part in Operation Dynamo (May 26-June 4) to evacuate the trapped Allied troops. As piermaster of the east mole, a breakwater pressed into service as a wharf, he worked courageously around the clock for six days while under enemy fire, organizing and overseeing the boarding of troops onto waiting ships.
Although expectations were for 45,000 to be evacuated, the “Miracle of Dunkirk” resulted in more than 338,000 troops saved. The majority of those were embarked from the east mole under Clouston’s command. After a brief meeting in England and while returning to Dunkirk on June 2, to coordinate the rescue of remaining French and Belgian soldiers, his motor launch was attacked and sunk by enemy aircraft. Campbell Clouston perished at sea.
On September 21, 2017, Parks Canada unveiled a plaque in honour of local hero, Commander J. Campbell Clouston.
The plaque is located at the Canal-de-Lachine National Historic Site. It was unveiled with the Clouston family present, along with many dignitaries and Canadian Armed Forces representatives.
Clouston was survived by his wife and two sons, the younger of whom was in attendance for the unveiling ceremony.
Fort Rolland Street was named to commemorate Fort Rolland which was located close to the street bearing its name.
Fort Rolland was built by François LeNoir (dit Rolland) around 1670. LeNoir had arrived in Quebec City in August 1665 as a soldier in the Carignan- Salière Regiment but upon his discharge from the Army, he remained in Quebec and launched into the fur trade. In 1669 he requested a parcel of land in the area now known as Lachine and built a trading post protected by a stockade and a small garrison of soldiers. This post also served to protect the nearby inhabitants and became known as Fort Rolland. On 5 August 1689, Fort Rolland was attacked by the Iroquois; the structure and settlement were destroyed and the fort eventually abandoned.
This road, Korea Coree Road, commemorates the Canadian participation in the Korean War, when North Korean armed forces invaded South Korea. Canada joined the United Nations task force, consisting of 16 countries, to aide in the conflict. After the two world wars, Korea remains Canada’s third-bloodiest overseas conflict, taking the lives of 516 Canadians and wounding more than 1,200. It is a part of the National Field of Honour cemetery.
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Le Champ d’Honneur National
Du Fonds du Souvenir
Inauguré en 1930, ce lieu est l’œuvre du Fonds du Souvenir, un organisme de bienfaisance fondé en 1909 pour offrir une sépulture honorable aux Anciens Combattants sans le sou à une époque où l’état n’assumait pas cette responsabilité. Il reflète bien la tradition des cimetières militaires par la sobriété de son plan axial, la disposition ordonnée des stèles et le traitement uniforme des sépultures, symboles de la discipline militaire et du principe de l’égalité des soldats dans la mort. Lieu de mémoire, ce cimetière et ces monuments évoquent d’une façon poignante les sacrifices des hommes et des femmes qui ont servi la patrie.
Last Post Fund
National Field of Honour
Inaugurated in 1930, this cemetery is the work of the Last Post Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1909 to provide honourable burials for indigent veterans at a time when the government did not assume the responsibility. It exemplifies the tradition of military cemeteries in the simplicity of its axial plan, orderly placement of tombstones and uniform treatment of graves, elements symbolic of military discipline and the equality of soldiers in death. A place of remembrance, this cemetery and its monuments are a poignant and powerful evocation of the sacrifices of the men and women who served their country.
This memorial is dedicated to all Veterans.
The 1908 death of Trooper James Daly in Montreal, a soldier for over 20 years and a veteran of the South African War, was the catalyst that would lead to the creation of the Last Post Fund by Arthur Hair. Being a veteran of the South African War himself, and now an orderly at the hospital where Daly had been treated, Hair was shocked that the penniless Daly’s remains would likely be turned over to science for medical research, as was customary in those days. Hair raised money from friends and colleagues to give the soldier a decent and dignified funeral and Daly was buried at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery on Mount-Royal. Wanting to ensure that no Veteran in need would ever be deprived of a dignified burial, Hair quickly founded the Last Post Fund in 1909 with the purchase of two plots on Mount Royal. With the advent of WWI, these two plots soon reached capacity, and in 1929 the Last Post Fund purchased six acres of land adjacent to the Lakeview Cemetery in Pointe-Claire. This piece of land would become the National Field of Honour, the final resting place for more than 20,000 servicemen and women, and their loved ones.
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À la mémoire
des Anciens Combattants de la Marine
canadienne et de la Marine Marchande
inhumés dans ce cimetière
Qu’ils reposent en paix
In memory
of the Veterans of the Canadian Navy
and the Merchant Navy
who are buried in this cemetery
May they rest in peace
This memorial, of iron anchor on a granite base, is dedicated to the Veterans of the Canadian Navy and Merchant Navy interred at the National Field of Honour, unveiled by the Last Post Fund.
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À la mémoire
des Anciens Combattants
de l’Armée canadienne
inhumés dans ce cimetière
Qu’ils reposent en paix
In memory
of the Veterans of the Canadian Army
who are buried in this cemetery
May they rest in peace
This memorial, of iron cannon on a granite base, is dedicated to the Veterans of the Canadian Army interred at the National Field of Honour, unveiled by the Last Post Fund.
À la mémoire
des Anciens Combattants
de l’Aviation canadienne
inhumés dans ce cimetière
Qu’ils reposent en paix
In memory
of the Veterans of the Canadian Air Force
who are buried in this cemetery
May they rest in peace
This monument was donated in 2003 by Flight Lieutenant (Retired) Howard Ripstein, a former director of the Quebec Branch of the Last Post Fund and Professor Emeritus of Concordia University. It consists of a propeller on a concrete plinth and is dedicated to Canadian Air Force Veterans who are buried in the Last Post Fund National Field of Honour.
This road commemorates the Canadian victory at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. It is a part of the National Field of Honour Cemetery.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge took place from April 9 to 12 in 1917 with the combatants being the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three division of the German Sixth Army.
The objective of the Canadian Corps was to take control of the German-held high ground along an escarpment at the northernmost end of the Arras Offensive. This would ensure that the southern flank could advance without suffering German enfilade fire. Supported by a creeping barrage, the Canadian Corps captured most of the ridge once the Canadian Corps overcame a salient of considerable German resistance. The final objective, a fortified knoll located outside the town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, fell to the Canadian Corps on April 12. The German forces then retreated to the Oppy-Méricourt line.
Historians attribute the success of the Canadian Corps in capturing the ridge to a combination of technical and tactical innovation, meticulous planning, powerful artillery support and extensive training. The battle was the first occasion when all four division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together and thus became a Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice. A 100 ha (250 acres) portion of the former battleground serves as a preserved memorial park and site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
This road commemorates the Canadian participation in the Battle of Paardeberg. It is a part of the National Field of Honour Cemetery.
The Battle of Paardeberg (“Horse Mountain”) was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley, between February 18-27, 1900. Faced by a reorganized British offensive directed at their capitals, the Afrikaners made a stand at Paardeberg, a point on the Modder River some 130km from Bloemfontein. The Royal Canadian Regiment fought first at Paardeberg Drift on February 18, 1900, where, after hours under fire in the scorching sun, they were ordered to make an assault. Their second engagement took place on February 27, 3km from the Drift. The Canadians, attacking before dawn, faced withering Afrikaner rifle fire. Although the Regiment was ordered to retreat, 2 companies who failed to hear or head the order maintained their position and returned the fire. Shortly thereafter Gen Piet Cronje and almost 4000 exhausted Afrikaners surrendered. The Battle for Paardeberg cost Canada 31 men; another 92 were wounded.
This road commemorates the Canadian navy and merchant marine sailors who participated in the “Mourmansk Run”. It is a part of the National Field of Honour cemetery.
On June 22, 1941, the German army launched Operation Barbarossa, the massive invasion of the Soviet Union. Within four weeks, the Red Army had suffered heavy losses in troops and equipment, and, in response, the Soviet Union requested assistance from the British government. The British War Office responded by establishing the “Mournmansk Run” to ship vital war materiel and equipment to the northern Soviet port of Mournmansk. Several Canadian merchant ships took part in the Mournmansk Run, and Royal Canadian Navy destroyers were assigned to escort convoys from British ports to the Soviet Union. Four Canadian Tribal class destroyers, as well as the destroyers HMCS Sioux and Algonquin, participated in these convoy duties.
