Beal, Ronald

Ron Beal was born April 5, 1921.  Growing up during the depression, he enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Canada, having been in the militia before the war. After training and the overseas journey and several months of waiting, Ron was sent to Dieppe. It was the first cross-Channel raid by the Allies, and a very important moment in the war.  Ron’s division was given the task of clearing the field battery that had a firing position on the beach. The training received and resources allocated were insufficient and because of that and the many tactical mistakes made on the day of the raid, the Canadians suffered a horrendous defeat on that fateful day in August.  Ron was taken to Lamsdorf, Germany and placed in Stalag VIIIB, where he endured boredom and hunger and cruelty at the hands of the Germans.  After the prisoners were liberated some celebrated, but Ron recalled that most were too weak to move and were transported to Britain for care. Ron was put into the hospital with all the other soldiers while he was regaining his strength and planning his return to Canada.  We were fortunate to visit Ron at the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing in the early days of this project.