Biography

David Lloyd Hart of Montréal joined the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals during the Second World War and would see action in the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942. Hart, 25 years old at the time, was a radio operator aboard a tank landing craft that was to go ashore at Dieppe. His ship was hit by the enemy off the beach, however, and the men were trapped on board as the landing craft came under additional fire.

With the Allied landing forces suffering terrible losses in the raid, orders were relayed from the Allied command ship HMS Calpe to evacuate the beaches an hour earlier than had been planned. But two Canadian infantry units that had come ashore at the nearby seaside village of Pourville, the Cameron Highlanders of Canada and the South Saskatchewan Regiment, did not seem to have received this message to pull back. Sergeant Hart got permission from the officers aboard the command ship to take over the airwaves to try to reach them himself. He succeeded and enabled the rescue of about a hundred Canadian soldiers. Hart would safely return to England, but it would be a harrowing crossing of the English Channel as his damaged landing craft was repeatedly attacked by German dive bombers while being towed to safety.

Hart, who would go on to become an officer later in the war, was awarded the Military Medal for his actions during the Dieppe Raid. He would later be named the honourary colonel of the 34 Signal Regiment.

---

Where they participated