LT. COLONEL G. FRASER EADIE DSO, CD OF THE 1ST CANADIAN PARACHUTE BATTALION Died peacefully at home in Oakville on August 11, 2003. Fraser was born July 20, 1917 in Winnipeg. He worked with the Ford Motor Company in assignments across Canada and Abroad. He retired from Ford with 46 years of service having made many friends and satisfied many customers. Fraser served overseas during WWII earning many decorations including: Distinguished Service Order, 39-45 Star, France and Gemany Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Class, War Medal 39-45 and the American Silver Star. Fraser is predeceased by his wife Lu (Kathleen Halliley) and son David. He is survived by his wife Eileen, sons Jim and Rob, step daughter Kathy Nicklin, nieces Jane and Charlotte, grandchildren Cayre, Steve, Diane, James, Sarah, Christopher, Brant Nicklin, Lisa Nicklin and great grandchildren Ryan, Reese and MacKenzie. Services will be held Friday August 15 at 2:30 pm at St. Jude's Anglican Church, 160 William Street, Oakville, ON with interment following at Trafalgar Lawn Cemetery. Family and friends are invited back to a reception at the Oakville Conference and Banquet Centre (Holiday Inn, south east corner Bronte Rd and QEW Oakville) at 4 PM. In lieu of flowers donations to the M.S. Society would be gratefully appreciated.
FRASER EADIE: 1917-2003
'Superb combat leader' led a courageous allied rush to the Baltic in the closing days of Second World War
JOHN WARD
Canadian Press
August 15, 2003
OTTAWA -- Fraser Eadie, a legendary soldier who commanded the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the waning days of the Second World War and went on to be the godfather to generations of post-war paratroopers, has died at age 86.
During the war, Mr. Eadie fought through northern Europe and led his battalion to Wismar, on Germany's Baltic coast, as the fighting ended.
His men remembered him as a disciplinarian who would nod at unorthodox tactics that worked. In the postwar period, he was patron of Canada's paratroop association. He served as honorary colonel of the Canadian Airborne Regiment from 1989 until it was disbanded in disgrace in 1994 after the Somalia affair.
In 1993, at the age of 76, he marked the Airborne's 25th anniversary by making a parachute jump with the outfit.
"He was a natural leader, a superb combat leader," said Bob Lockhart, a retired paratroop officer who knew Mr. Eadie well after the war.
Mr. Eadie began his military career as a militia soldier in the 1930s, serving as a private in both the Calgary Highlanders and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
After the war broke out, he left his job with the Ford Motor Co. for the army and went overseas as a lieutenant with the Rifles.
He was promoted to captain and then major, and took a parachute course before joining the fledgling parachute battalion. As a hockey player before the war, he was in top physical shape. He breezed through gruelling training which left many gasping by the wayside.
In March, 1944, the battalion took part in Operation Varsity, leapfrogging the Rhine River into Germany.
The jump zone was heavily defended and the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nicklin, was killed. One story says he died when he landed in a clump of trees directly above a German machine-gun nest, but Jan DeVries, who was a private at the time, doubts that.
"Nicklin was actually probably dead before he came into the trees because he sailed right over a German machine-gun," Mr. DeVries said.
With the commander dead and the landing under heavy fire, the Canadians were in a crisis.
"Fraser immediately assumed command," said Mr. DeVries.
He rallied the men and despite heavy casualties -- 25 killed, about 50 wounded and 20 missing out of 475 -- he led them to seize their objectives.
The battalion jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of a larger British unit. The Canadians fought in Normandy for weeks and helped break the German army in France.
Mr. DeVries said Mr. Eadie showed a sense of humour even in combat. He recalled an incident in Normandy when Mr. Eadie spotted a German tank and called for artillery support, telling the gunners he faced a Tiger tank, a formidable piece of armour. When a corporal pointed out that the tank was, in fact, a smaller though still potent Mark IV, Mr. Eadie smiled at him: "Don't spoil a good story."
Mr. Eadie was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, promoted to lieutenant-colonel and confirmed as battalion commander.
In the final weeks of the war, the battalion was paired with a British armoured unit, driving into northern Germany. The Canadians commandeered cars, trucks and other vehicles and outran the British, Mr. Lockhart said.
"They were moving so fast with their captured cars and such that the armoured battalion ran out of gas."
At one point, a British general arrived to inspect the regiment and was shocked to find some soldiers decked out in German parachute smocks, others sporting looted bowler hats.
Mr. Eadie was driving a big German staff car at the time and was hardly in a position to complain. He remembered later that the general was taken aback by the scorn for dress regulations.
He told Mr. Eadie: "I saw one fellow wearing what looked like a rugby sweater embossed with the words, Flin Flon."
Mr. Eadie said the general never did figure out what that meant and no one enlightened him.
Mr. DeVries said the Canadians, in company with the Royal Scots Greys, an armoured outfit, eventually ran into the Russians on the Baltic.
"Their orders were to go to Denmark," Mr. DeVries said. Mr. Eadie would have none of that and confronted the Russians, telling his men "Get ready lads."
"He told the Russian officer, 'you better have 10 men for my one.' "
The Russians backed down.
The official history of the Canadian Army notes: "Wismar, taken by Lt.-Col. Eadie's men and the Royal Scots Greys was in fact the most easterly point reached by any Commonwealth troops in this campaign and the first point where any Commonwealth troops serving in it made contact with the Russian ally.
"It is satisfactory that a Canadian battalion was there."
The battalion went home in September, 1945, and was disbanded. Mr. Eadie went back to Ford, where he spent 46 years in all.
FRASER EADIE: 1917-2003
'Superb combat leader' led a courageous allied rush to the Baltic in the closing days of Second World War
JOHN WARD
Canadian Press
August 15, 2003
OTTAWA -- Fraser Eadie, a legendary soldier who commanded the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the waning days of the Second World War and went on to be the godfather to generations of post-war paratroopers, has died at age 86.
During the war, Mr. Eadie fought through northern Europe and led his battalion to Wismar, on Germany's Baltic coast, as the fighting ended.
His men remembered him as a disciplinarian who would nod at unorthodox tactics that worked. In the postwar period, he was patron of Canada's paratroop association. He served as honorary colonel of the Canadian Airborne Regiment from 1989 until it was disbanded in disgrace in 1994 after the Somalia affair.
In 1993, at the age of 76, he marked the Airborne's 25th anniversary by making a parachute jump with the outfit.
"He was a natural leader, a superb combat leader," said Bob Lockhart, a retired paratroop officer who knew Mr. Eadie well after the war.
Mr. Eadie began his military career as a militia soldier in the 1930s, serving as a private in both the Calgary Highlanders and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
After the war broke out, he left his job with the Ford Motor Co. for the army and went overseas as a lieutenant with the Rifles.
He was promoted to captain and then major, and took a parachute course before joining the fledgling parachute battalion. As a hockey player before the war, he was in top physical shape. He breezed through gruelling training which left many gasping by the wayside.
In March, 1944, the battalion took part in Operation Varsity, leapfrogging the Rhine River into Germany.
The jump zone was heavily defended and the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nicklin, was killed. One story says he died when he landed in a clump of trees directly above a German machine-gun nest, but Jan DeVries, who was a private at the time, doubts that.
"Nicklin was actually probably dead before he came into the trees because he sailed right over a German machine-gun," Mr. DeVries said.
With the commander dead and the landing under heavy fire, the Canadians were in a crisis.
"Fraser immediately assumed command," said Mr. DeVries.
He rallied the men and despite heavy casualties -- 25 killed, about 50 wounded and 20 missing out of 475 -- he led them to seize their objectives.
The battalion jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of a larger British unit. The Canadians fought in Normandy for weeks and helped break the German army in France.
Mr. DeVries said Mr. Eadie showed a sense of humour even in combat. He recalled an incident in Normandy when Mr. Eadie spotted a German tank and called for artillery support, telling the gunners he faced a Tiger tank, a formidable piece of armour. When a corporal pointed out that the tank was, in fact, a smaller though still potent Mark IV, Mr. Eadie smiled at him: "Don't spoil a good story."
Mr. Eadie was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, promoted to lieutenant-colonel and confirmed as battalion commander.
In the final weeks of the war, the battalion was paired with a British armoured unit, driving into northern Germany. The Canadians commandeered cars, trucks and other vehicles and outran the British, Mr. Lockhart said.
"They were moving so fast with their captured cars and such that the armoured battalion ran out of gas."
At one point, a British general arrived to inspect the regiment and was shocked to find some soldiers decked out in German parachute smocks, others sporting looted bowler hats.
Mr. Eadie was driving a big German staff car at the time and was hardly in a position to complain. He remembered later that the general was taken aback by the scorn for dress regulations.
He told Mr. Eadie: "I saw one fellow wearing what looked like a rugby sweater embossed with the words, Flin Flon."
Mr. Eadie said the general never did figure out what that meant and no one enlightened him.
Mr. DeVries said the Canadians, in company with the Royal Scots Greys, an armoured outfit, eventually ran into the Russians on the Baltic.
"Their orders were to go to Denmark," Mr. DeVries said. Mr. Eadie would have none of that and confronted the Russians, telling his men "Get ready lads."
"He told the Russian officer, 'you better have 10 men for my one.' "
The Russians backed down.
The official history of the Canadian Army notes: "Wismar, taken by Lt.-Col. Eadie's men and the Royal Scots Greys was in fact the most easterly point reached by any Commonwealth troops in this campaign and the first point where any Commonwealth troops serving in it made contact with the Russian ally.
"It is satisfactory that a Canadian battalion was there."
The battalion went home in September, 1945, and was disbanded. Mr. Eadie went back to Ford, where he spent 46 years in all.
LT. COLONEL G. FRASER EADIE DSO, CD OF THE 1ST CANADIAN PARACHUTE BATTALION Died peacefully at home in Oakville on August 11, 2003. Fraser was born July 20, 1917 in Winnipeg. He worked with the Ford Motor Company in assignments across Canada and Abroad. He retired from Ford with 46 years of service having made many friends and satisfied many customers. Fraser served overseas during WWII earning many decorations including: Distinguished Service Order, 39-45 Star, France and Gemany Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Class, War Medal 39-45 and the American Silver Star. Fraser is predeceased by his wife Lu (Kathleen Halliley) and son David. He is survived by his wife Eileen, sons Jim and Rob, step daughter Kathy Nicklin, nieces Jane and Charlotte, grandchildren Cayre, Steve, Diane, James, Sarah, Christopher, Brant Nicklin, Lisa Nicklin and great grandchildren Ryan, Reese and MacKenzie. Services will be held Friday August 15 at 2:30 pm at St. Jude's Anglican Church, 160 William Street, Oakville, ON with interment following at Trafalgar Lawn Cemetery. Family and friends are invited back to a reception at the Oakville Conference and Banquet Centre (Holiday Inn, south east corner Bronte Rd and QEW Oakville) at 4 PM. In lieu of flowers donations to the M.S. Society would be gratefully appreciated.
FRASER EADIE: 1917-2003
'Superb combat leader' led a courageous allied rush to the Baltic in the closing days of Second World War
JOHN WARD
Canadian Press
August 15, 2003
OTTAWA -- Fraser Eadie, a legendary soldier who commanded the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the waning days of the Second World War and went on to be the godfather to generations of post-war paratroopers, has died at age 86.
During the war, Mr. Eadie fought through northern Europe and led his battalion to Wismar, on Germany's Baltic coast, as the fighting ended.
His men remembered him as a disciplinarian who would nod at unorthodox tactics that worked. In the postwar period, he was patron of Canada's paratroop association. He served as honorary colonel of the Canadian Airborne Regiment from 1989 until it was disbanded in disgrace in 1994 after the Somalia affair.
In 1993, at the age of 76, he marked the Airborne's 25th anniversary by making a parachute jump with the outfit.
"He was a natural leader, a superb combat leader," said Bob Lockhart, a retired paratroop officer who knew Mr. Eadie well after the war.
Mr. Eadie began his military career as a militia soldier in the 1930s, serving as a private in both the Calgary Highlanders and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
After the war broke out, he left his job with the Ford Motor Co. for the army and went overseas as a lieutenant with the Rifles.
He was promoted to captain and then major, and took a parachute course before joining the fledgling parachute battalion. As a hockey player before the war, he was in top physical shape. He breezed through gruelling training which left many gasping by the wayside.
In March, 1944, the battalion took part in Operation Varsity, leapfrogging the Rhine River into Germany.
The jump zone was heavily defended and the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nicklin, was killed. One story says he died when he landed in a clump of trees directly above a German machine-gun nest, but Jan DeVries, who was a private at the time, doubts that.
"Nicklin was actually probably dead before he came into the trees because he sailed right over a German machine-gun," Mr. DeVries said.
With the commander dead and the landing under heavy fire, the Canadians were in a crisis.
"Fraser immediately assumed command," said Mr. DeVries.
He rallied the men and despite heavy casualties -- 25 killed, about 50 wounded and 20 missing out of 475 -- he led them to seize their objectives.
The battalion jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of a larger British unit. The Canadians fought in Normandy for weeks and helped break the German army in France.
Mr. DeVries said Mr. Eadie showed a sense of humour even in combat. He recalled an incident in Normandy when Mr. Eadie spotted a German tank and called for artillery support, telling the gunners he faced a Tiger tank, a formidable piece of armour. When a corporal pointed out that the tank was, in fact, a smaller though still potent Mark IV, Mr. Eadie smiled at him: "Don't spoil a good story."
Mr. Eadie was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, promoted to lieutenant-colonel and confirmed as battalion commander.
In the final weeks of the war, the battalion was paired with a British armoured unit, driving into northern Germany. The Canadians commandeered cars, trucks and other vehicles and outran the British, Mr. Lockhart said.
"They were moving so fast with their captured cars and such that the armoured battalion ran out of gas."
At one point, a British general arrived to inspect the regiment and was shocked to find some soldiers decked out in German parachute smocks, others sporting looted bowler hats.
Mr. Eadie was driving a big German staff car at the time and was hardly in a position to complain. He remembered later that the general was taken aback by the scorn for dress regulations.
He told Mr. Eadie: "I saw one fellow wearing what looked like a rugby sweater embossed with the words, Flin Flon."
Mr. Eadie said the general never did figure out what that meant and no one enlightened him.
Mr. DeVries said the Canadians, in company with the Royal Scots Greys, an armoured outfit, eventually ran into the Russians on the Baltic.
"Their orders were to go to Denmark," Mr. DeVries said. Mr. Eadie would have none of that and confronted the Russians, telling his men "Get ready lads."
"He told the Russian officer, 'you better have 10 men for my one.' "
The Russians backed down.
The official history of the Canadian Army notes: "Wismar, taken by Lt.-Col. Eadie's men and the Royal Scots Greys was in fact the most easterly point reached by any Commonwealth troops in this campaign and the first point where any Commonwealth troops serving in it made contact with the Russian ally.
"It is satisfactory that a Canadian battalion was there."
The battalion went home in September, 1945, and was disbanded. Mr. Eadie went back to Ford, where he spent 46 years in all.
FRASER EADIE: 1917-2003
'Superb combat leader' led a courageous allied rush to the Baltic in the closing days of Second World War
JOHN WARD
Canadian Press
August 15, 2003
OTTAWA -- Fraser Eadie, a legendary soldier who commanded the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the waning days of the Second World War and went on to be the godfather to generations of post-war paratroopers, has died at age 86.
During the war, Mr. Eadie fought through northern Europe and led his battalion to Wismar, on Germany's Baltic coast, as the fighting ended.
His men remembered him as a disciplinarian who would nod at unorthodox tactics that worked. In the postwar period, he was patron of Canada's paratroop association. He served as honorary colonel of the Canadian Airborne Regiment from 1989 until it was disbanded in disgrace in 1994 after the Somalia affair.
In 1993, at the age of 76, he marked the Airborne's 25th anniversary by making a parachute jump with the outfit.
"He was a natural leader, a superb combat leader," said Bob Lockhart, a retired paratroop officer who knew Mr. Eadie well after the war.
Mr. Eadie began his military career as a militia soldier in the 1930s, serving as a private in both the Calgary Highlanders and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
After the war broke out, he left his job with the Ford Motor Co. for the army and went overseas as a lieutenant with the Rifles.
He was promoted to captain and then major, and took a parachute course before joining the fledgling parachute battalion. As a hockey player before the war, he was in top physical shape. He breezed through gruelling training which left many gasping by the wayside.
In March, 1944, the battalion took part in Operation Varsity, leapfrogging the Rhine River into Germany.
The jump zone was heavily defended and the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nicklin, was killed. One story says he died when he landed in a clump of trees directly above a German machine-gun nest, but Jan DeVries, who was a private at the time, doubts that.
"Nicklin was actually probably dead before he came into the trees because he sailed right over a German machine-gun," Mr. DeVries said.
With the commander dead and the landing under heavy fire, the Canadians were in a crisis.
"Fraser immediately assumed command," said Mr. DeVries.
He rallied the men and despite heavy casualties -- 25 killed, about 50 wounded and 20 missing out of 475 -- he led them to seize their objectives.
The battalion jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of a larger British unit. The Canadians fought in Normandy for weeks and helped break the German army in France.
Mr. DeVries said Mr. Eadie showed a sense of humour even in combat. He recalled an incident in Normandy when Mr. Eadie spotted a German tank and called for artillery support, telling the gunners he faced a Tiger tank, a formidable piece of armour. When a corporal pointed out that the tank was, in fact, a smaller though still potent Mark IV, Mr. Eadie smiled at him: "Don't spoil a good story."
Mr. Eadie was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, promoted to lieutenant-colonel and confirmed as battalion commander.
In the final weeks of the war, the battalion was paired with a British armoured unit, driving into northern Germany. The Canadians commandeered cars, trucks and other vehicles and outran the British, Mr. Lockhart said.
"They were moving so fast with their captured cars and such that the armoured battalion ran out of gas."
At one point, a British general arrived to inspect the regiment and was shocked to find some soldiers decked out in German parachute smocks, others sporting looted bowler hats.
Mr. Eadie was driving a big German staff car at the time and was hardly in a position to complain. He remembered later that the general was taken aback by the scorn for dress regulations.
He told Mr. Eadie: "I saw one fellow wearing what looked like a rugby sweater embossed with the words, Flin Flon."
Mr. Eadie said the general never did figure out what that meant and no one enlightened him.
Mr. DeVries said the Canadians, in company with the Royal Scots Greys, an armoured outfit, eventually ran into the Russians on the Baltic.
"Their orders were to go to Denmark," Mr. DeVries said. Mr. Eadie would have none of that and confronted the Russians, telling his men "Get ready lads."
"He told the Russian officer, 'you better have 10 men for my one.' "
The Russians backed down.
The official history of the Canadian Army notes: "Wismar, taken by Lt.-Col. Eadie's men and the Royal Scots Greys was in fact the most easterly point reached by any Commonwealth troops in this campaign and the first point where any Commonwealth troops serving in it made contact with the Russian ally.
"It is satisfactory that a Canadian battalion was there."
The battalion went home in September, 1945, and was disbanded. Mr. Eadie went back to Ford, where he spent 46 years in all.
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