STEVENSON, CPL WILBERT ‘WIB’

Wilbert was from Parry Sound. He enlisted in 1942. His initial training was at Borden and then he shipped overseas to England and subsequently to Sicily/Italy.

He was with the Prince Edward Regiment. The ship that the Prince Edwards were on was torpedoed  in the Mediterranean and he and others ended up in the water where German planes attempted to strafe them. They had to dive whenever they saw plane.

Wilbert was picked up by allied boat and taken to Africa. Eventually his unit reformed and they saw action in Sicily and Italy.

Wilbet was wounded in  action (fracture right fibula due to shrapnel). While in  tent awaiting transfer, his brother Harold ‘Nipper’ visited him.

He was shipped back to England where spent the duration of the war and was then shipped home on the Queen Elizabeth in January 1946.

(Clayton Stevenson noted that both Phoebe and Wib members of Branch 76, Sudbury Legion

The following note captures part of the Wilert’s experiences:

“The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade, under the command of Major-General G.G. Simonds, sailed from Great Britain in late June 1943. En route, 58 Canadians were drowned when enemy submarines sank three ships of the assault convoy, and 500 vehicles and a number of guns were lost. Nevertheless, the Canadians arrived late in the night of July 9 to join the invasion armada of nearly 3,000 Allied ships and landing craft….On May 16, the 1st Canadian Corps received orders to advance on the Hitler Line ten kilometres farther up the valley. Early on May 23, the attack on the Hitler Line went in. Under heavy enemy mortar and machine-gun fire, the Canadians breached the defences and the tanks of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division poured through toward the next obstacle, the Melfa River. Desperate fighting took place in the forming of a bridgehead across the Melfa. Once the Canadians were over the river, however, the major fighting for the Liri valley was over.

Wilbert StevensonWilbert Stevenson