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http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/02/3135182-cp.html
Second World War vet sought after Christmas present found on battlefield
By BOB WEBER
EDMONTON (CP) - A long-ago Christmas present lost by a Canadian soldier who fought in one of the closing battles of the Second World War has turned up in a German wood nearly 62 years after the bloody struggle for the Reichswald Forest.
"It looks like an ID bracelet," said Pat Fowler, who is helping track down the rightful owner of the silver bracelet inscribed to Allan O. Edwards. "It's very intriguing."
Fowler and her husband, Don, who run a website dedicated to Canadian soldiers, first heard about the bracelet late last year when they were contacted by a Dutch man who had recently visited the Reichswald Forest on the German side of the Dutch-German border.
The man found the bracelet while combing the woods with his metal detector and contacted the Fowlers in the hope it could be returned to its original owner or his family.
"He wants to return it to the soldier who lost it," Fowler said Tuesday.
The bracelet consists of a silver chain and a small oval plaque. The top of the plaque is inscribed "A.O. Edwards."
The soldier's service number appears below and the centre of the plaque carries the crest of the Toronto Scottish Regiment.
The back of the plaque reads: "Allan from Florence, xmas 1942."
On the bottom, a jeweller's stamp says Sterling Ecco.
In February 1945, the Reichswald Forest was the scene of bitter fighting as the First Canadian Army along with nine British divisions and Belgian, Dutch, Polish and American units - the largest Canadian-led force ever - began their final assault on Germany.
The Nazi army had blown up dikes in the area, flooding the landscape and forcing the Allies to concentrate their attack along a 10-kilometre front through the dense Reichswald Forest.
The struggle was especially tough.
The Allies faced thousands of well-dug-in enemy soldiers, including crack parachute regiments, who were fighting for the first time to defend their own soil.
Heavy rain and an early thaw turned the ground to bog, making it nearly impossible to move tanks or other armoured units to where they were needed.
The dense forest forced the Allies to advance the hard way, sometimes literally from tree to tree.
"We didn't like the Reichswald," recalled one British vet.
"It was a thick forest, mainly of pine trees, mostly close together, and there was an eerie silence all the time - except, that is, when we weren't being subjected to heavy artillery fire in which the shells tended to explode in the trees over our heads and causing heavy casualties."
Throughout the battle, the Toronto Scottish provided machine gun, mortar and anti-aircraft support to Allied troops.
It may have been sometime during the 12 days it took to punch through the Siegfried Line into the German Rhineland that Allan Edwards lost his bracelet.
"That's what I'm thinking, that it fell off during battle," said Fowler from Edmonton.
According to military records, Edwards joined the army in Toronto and was posted to the Toronto Scottish sometime between Dec. 17, 1939, and December 1942.
There are no records of his death in battle. If he stayed in the army, there is no indication he was killed in Korea either.
Fowler said the Royal Canadian Legion has no record of his death since his military service. The Toronto Scottish regimental and officer's association is currently trying to track him down.
The bracelet remains in the hands of the Dutch finder. The effort to return it is typical of the regard in which the Dutch hold the Canadian soldiers who liberated their country from the Nazis, said Fowler.
"They have never forgotten the Canadians liberating them."
Reichswald Forest is now home to the largest Commonwealth military cemetery in Germany. It has more than 7,400 graves.
Second World War vet sought after Christmas present found on battlefield
By BOB WEBER
EDMONTON (CP) - A long-ago Christmas present lost by a Canadian soldier who fought in one of the closing battles of the Second World War has turned up in a German wood nearly 62 years after the bloody struggle for the Reichswald Forest.
"It looks like an ID bracelet," said Pat Fowler, who is helping track down the rightful owner of the silver bracelet inscribed to Allan O. Edwards. "It's very intriguing."
Fowler and her husband, Don, who run a website dedicated to Canadian soldiers, first heard about the bracelet late last year when they were contacted by a Dutch man who had recently visited the Reichswald Forest on the German side of the Dutch-German border.
The man found the bracelet while combing the woods with his metal detector and contacted the Fowlers in the hope it could be returned to its original owner or his family.
"He wants to return it to the soldier who lost it," Fowler said Tuesday.
The bracelet consists of a silver chain and a small oval plaque. The top of the plaque is inscribed "A.O. Edwards."
The soldier's service number appears below and the centre of the plaque carries the crest of the Toronto Scottish Regiment.
The back of the plaque reads: "Allan from Florence, xmas 1942."
On the bottom, a jeweller's stamp says Sterling Ecco.
In February 1945, the Reichswald Forest was the scene of bitter fighting as the First Canadian Army along with nine British divisions and Belgian, Dutch, Polish and American units - the largest Canadian-led force ever - began their final assault on Germany.
The Nazi army had blown up dikes in the area, flooding the landscape and forcing the Allies to concentrate their attack along a 10-kilometre front through the dense Reichswald Forest.
The struggle was especially tough.
The Allies faced thousands of well-dug-in enemy soldiers, including crack parachute regiments, who were fighting for the first time to defend their own soil.
Heavy rain and an early thaw turned the ground to bog, making it nearly impossible to move tanks or other armoured units to where they were needed.
The dense forest forced the Allies to advance the hard way, sometimes literally from tree to tree.
"We didn't like the Reichswald," recalled one British vet.
"It was a thick forest, mainly of pine trees, mostly close together, and there was an eerie silence all the time - except, that is, when we weren't being subjected to heavy artillery fire in which the shells tended to explode in the trees over our heads and causing heavy casualties."
Throughout the battle, the Toronto Scottish provided machine gun, mortar and anti-aircraft support to Allied troops.
It may have been sometime during the 12 days it took to punch through the Siegfried Line into the German Rhineland that Allan Edwards lost his bracelet.
"That's what I'm thinking, that it fell off during battle," said Fowler from Edmonton.
According to military records, Edwards joined the army in Toronto and was posted to the Toronto Scottish sometime between Dec. 17, 1939, and December 1942.
There are no records of his death in battle. If he stayed in the army, there is no indication he was killed in Korea either.
Fowler said the Royal Canadian Legion has no record of his death since his military service. The Toronto Scottish regimental and officer's association is currently trying to track him down.
The bracelet remains in the hands of the Dutch finder. The effort to return it is typical of the regard in which the Dutch hold the Canadian soldiers who liberated their country from the Nazis, said Fowler.
"They have never forgotten the Canadians liberating them."
Reichswald Forest is now home to the largest Commonwealth military cemetery in Germany. It has more than 7,400 graves.
