Profile image
Military service
Service number:
H/6624
Age:
27
Rank:
Private
Force:
Army
Unit/Regiment:
Winnipeg Grenadiers, R.C.I.C.
Birth:
January 5, 1914
Franklin, Manitoba
Enlistment:
September 26, 1939
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Death:
December 22, 1941
Hong Kong
Burial/memorial information
Grave reference:
Column 26.
Additional information
Son of William James Dowswell and Ada Lillia Colton of Dryden, Ontario. Husband of Mary Margaret Grawbarger of Sprague, Manitoba.
Served in Manitoba, Jamaica with Y Force, Hong Kong with C Force.
Additional citations
1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp.
Digital gallery of Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
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Newspaper Clipping
In memory of the men and women memorialized on the pages of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Memorial
Private MELVIN SINKER DOWSWELL is one of 18 members of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps who are commemorated on this panel of the Sai Wan Memorial. He was one of 290 Canadian soldiers killed during the defense of Hong Kong, from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. -
Newspaper Clipping
Private MELVIN SINKER DOWSWELL was reported to be Missing in Action in the Canadian Army's 248th overseas casualty list of the war published in the Globe and Mail on January 13, 1943. This newspaper story quotes a Defense Department spokes as saying that Lieutenant ERIC LAWSON MITCHELL and his brother Lieutenant WILLIAM VAUGHAN MITCHELL were missing as a result of the Dieppe attack, and they are appear on the list under Hamilton Regiment. They were in fact members of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and were wounded and then murdered by the Japnese on December 20, 1941 during the defense of Hong Kong, where the casualties were very much greater than reported in this clipping. -
Dedicatory Inscription of the Sai Wan Memorial
Dedicatory inscription of the SAI WAN MEMORIAL. This memorial bears the names of more than 2,000 Commonwealth servicemen, including 228 Canadians. -
Canada and the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Canadian Casuatlies in the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Unknown Marker
The Sai Wan Memorial is located at the entrance of Sai Wan Cemetery. 1,505 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War are buried or commemorated at this cemetery, of which 444 of the burials are the remains of unidentified soldiers, including those of 107 Canadian soldiers, most of whom were killed or died of wounds during the defense of Hong Kong, which took place from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. This is one such grave marker. There is a possibility that the remains of Private MELVIN SINKER DOWSWELL lie beneath this grave marker, or one of the other 106 grave markers in Sai Wan Cemetery that simply read, A SOLDIER OF THE 1939-1945 WAR. A CANADIAN REGIMENT. KNOWN UNTO GOD. The unidentified soldiers are commemorated at the Sai Wan Memorial. -
Photo of MELVIN SINKER DOWSWELL
In memory of those who served in Hong Kong during World War 11 and did not come home. Submitted with permission on behalf of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association by Operation: Picture Me. -
Honour Roll
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
Digital gallery of
Private Melvin Sinker Dowswell
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 28 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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