​      Corporal Lester Ludlow Hanley was born on November 8th, 1923 to parents James and Hilda Hanley in Buckfield, Queens County.  Lester was the eldest child, with siblings Clarence, Raymond, Everett, Basil, Mildred, James Junior, Paul, and Borden.  The family was Baptist and lived in Molega Mines.  Lester followed his father into the occupation of Miner at the Queen Mine and listed “Gold Miner” on his enlistment papers. 

​

       Lester married his wife Verna (nee Whynot) and had two children Reginal and Joan, who were three years old and four months old respectively when he enlisted.  Lester stood 5 feet 8 ¼ inches tall (173 cm), weighed 150 pounds (68 kg), and had blue eyes and brown hair. 

​

      Lester enlisted at 19 years old on October 13th, 1943, into the Number 6 District Depot as an Infantryman Private and was assigned Regimental number F/7492.  In June 1944, he was granted a two-week leave to travel home to visit his family before he deployed to Europe.

​

      Private Hanley sailed for England and landed on July 27th, 1944.  He was then deployed to France on September 25th, 1944, and assigned to the Essex Scottish Regiment (a Canadian Regiment, it was Scottish in name only).  The Regiment had already seen much action in the months before Private Hanley joined their ranks.  They had landed on the coast of Normandy and fought through France, Holland, and into Germany.  By the war's end, the Essex Scottish Regiment had suffered more than 550 war dead and had been inflicted with the highest number of casualties in the Canadian Army, more than 2,500.

​

      Private Hanley was designated as Lance Corporal on October 13th, 1944, and then as Acting Corporal on January 21st, 1945.  His records thence refer to him as Corporal.  Corporal Lester Hanley perished in combat against the Germans on February 19th, 1945 in Bedburg, Germany.  He was 21 years old.  His wife Verna became a widow at 21, and his children Reginal and Joan were 5 and 2 years old.

 

      Corporal Hanley left his estate to his wife Verna, comprised of the family home in Molega Mines and the contents of his kit bag.  Corporal Hanley was posthumously awarded the Campaign Medals the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the War Medal 1939-45, and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (with Clasp); which were all forwarded to his wife Verna.  Verna Hanley and Corporal Hanley’s mother Hilda, were each awarded the Memorial Cross Medal (also known as the Silver Cross).  Verna Hanley also received the War Service Gratuity which was calculated based on Corporal Hanley’s time in uniform and his time overseas, which amounted to 178.84 dollars.

​

      Initially, Corporal Hanley was interred at a temporary Canadian cemetery near Bedburg.  On completion of the war, he was disinterred and moved to the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery (Nijmegen) on September 12th, 1945.  He is interred in Plot 10, Row A, Grave 10, and his headstone is inscribed with “MAY YOU REST IN PEACE EVER REMEMBERED BY YOUR WIFE AND CHILDREN”.  Flying Officer Jonathan Walton and Private William Seldon rest in the same cemetery.

 

      Corporal Lester Ludlow Hanley is commemorated on page 522 of the World War Two Book of Remembrance.  He is also listed on the Caledonia Cenotaph.

 

 

 

 

 

Online References

War Grave Search – https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2663486/lester-l-hanley/

Local Grave Search - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12903861/lester-ludlow-hanley

Canadian Virtual War Memorial - https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2663486?Lester%20Ludlow%20Hanley

Second World War Personnel Records Database (file download size 14.8 Meg) - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=kia&IdNumber=14714&ecopy=44485_273022002859_0027-00203