Grey-Bruce Boomers Spring 2023

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THE BUCKET LIST Saving the Holy Roller LOCAL RESIDENT LEADS CHARGE TO SAVE WAR RELIC BY DOUG ARCHER 4 • GREYBRUCEBOOMERS.COM
y Doug Archer THE BUCKET LIST Three years ago, <strong>Bruce</strong> County resident Steve Hearn undertook a rescue operation. The mission? To save a Canadian war memorial known as the Holy Roller. One of only two Canadian Army Sherman tanks in the Second World War to have survived from D-Day on June 6, 1944, to Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, 1945, the Holy Roller is legendary in the Canadian military. Manned by members of the 1st Hussars – an armoured reserve regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces – it landed on Juno Beach in Normandy just 20 minutes behind the initial assault wave. For the next 11 months, the tank remained in the thick of battle, fighting for beachheads in France and helping to recapture besieged towns in Belgium and Holland. It was hit four times by enemy antitank fire, but it never lost a crew member. Above: The turret before preservation. Below: The incredible result of a lot of hard work. When the war finally ended, the Holy Roller had advanced about 4,000 kms, participated in 14 major battles, and outlasted 346 other tanks. Not wanting to abandon this distinguished tank in Europe, military commanders successfully petitioned to bring it home, and in 1946 the tank was shipped across the Atlantic and repatriated on Canadian soil. Ultimately put on display in Victoria Park in London, Ont., the Holy Roller became a war memorial dedicated to members of the 1st Hussars who fell in action during the two World Wars. Yet time took its toll on the relic. After almost 75 years exposed to the harsh Canadian elements, the tank that survived a World War was again in a battle for its life. Corrosion had eaten away at much of it, and a 2017 inspection revealed that, without refurbishment work, the hull of this treasured war memorial would collapse over the coming decade. SPRING <strong>2023</strong> • 5
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Grey-Bruce Boomers Spring 2023

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