William James Sutherland Hole should never have fought in the Second World War, let alone die in it.
Hole, who was born in Carman on Aug. 7, 1926, was under age when he enlisted at Shilo on Jan. 16, 1942.
“He was only 15 years, nine months, but was allowed to enlist with his parent’s permission,” said Ian Stewart, curator of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum and Archives, the regiment Hole was serving with when he was killed in action in the Netherlands on April 22, 1945, along with four other members of the Rifles.
JESSE BOILY / FREE PRESS FILES
Ian Stewart, curator of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum and Archives, is looking for a photo of William James Sutherland Hole, a Shilo soldier who died in the Second World War.
Almost immediately after enlisting, Hole appeared to be experiencing serious regret.
“He was constantly going AWOL right from the beginning,” Stewart said. “(I’m) surprised they kept him.”
There are a few other fragments known about Hole’s short life: he left school after Grade 8 and worked on the family farm for three years. He is buried in the Netherlands, at the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten.
A retired Dutch diplomat is hoping to add another piece of the puzzle by trying to find a photo of Hole.
Pieter Valkenburg, now a resident of Prince Edward Island, has devoted the last few years looking for photographs of fallen Canadian soldiers to add to a digital archive. He’s hoping to include every Canadian soldier interred in official war cemeteries in the Netherlands.
Valkenburg has already found more than 390 photographs — including 19 Manitobans — for the project and he’s always on the lookout for more.
“I do it every day,” he said. “I began it to pay tribute to the soldiers and the families who lost their children or their uncles.”
“He was still not even 18 when he fought in Italy.”–Pieter Valkenburg
But Valkenburg admits he has come to a dead end in finding a photo of Hole, and he hopes Free Press readers can help.
Valkenburg said he knows the young man was born to Daisy Molly Hole, but no father is listed in the birth records. Hole was raised by Daisy’s parents, James William and Eva Alice Hole. Daisy, who later married a man whose last name was Van Achte and, then, another named Edward Stevenson Towle in 1929, died in Winnipeg in 1973, survived by four sons and three daughters.
As for Hole, Valkenburg said he actually enlisted twice. The first time, in Shilo, he lied about his age and was later discharged when his true age was discovered. The second time, when he enlisted with the Winnipeg Light Infantry on May 29, 1942, he lied both about his age and that his father was James Hole.
He went on to train in Calgary and Vernon, B.C., before being shipped to England in 1943 to the Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit. He joined the 1st Canadian Special Services Battalion in Italy in 1944, and later returned to England before being deployed with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles to the Netherlands on April 7, 1945.
“He was still not even 18 when he fought in Italy,” said Valkenburg.
The war in Europe ended May 8, just days after Hole’s death.
“We have many photographs with no names.”–Ian Stewart, curator of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum and Archives
“You see that so often with the replacement troops,” said Valkenburg. “They had never fought together — it is not the same as fighting in a unit where everyone knows what they have to do at a certain time.”
Stewart said the museum and archives might have a photograph of Hole, but he doesn’t know.
“We have many photographs with no names,” he said. “We would only know who he was if we could see a photograph of him, but of course, there is no known photo of him.”
Valkenburg said if bureaucrats hadn’t made a records disposal decision sometime after the war he wouldn’t have to look for photos of deceased soldiers.
“They photographed most of the guys when they enlisted,” he said. “If they needed it, when someone lost their life, they used it for identification. But after that, when the files were handed over to Library and Archives Canada, they threw out the photos. they really did that.
“Maybe they thought it wasn’t important, or for privacy reasons, but what we are really doing now is to try to get the photos back.”
Valkenburg is asking anyone who finds a photo of Hole to contact him at memorialtrail@gmail.com.
“When the files were handed over to Library and Archives Canada, they threw out the photos. they really did that.”–Pieter Valkenburg
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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