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Video Credit: Youtube/Canadian Army
Honorary Col. David Lloyd Hart of the Canadian Army passed away on March 27 at the age of 101.
He had served for 81 years. Lt. Gen. Jean-Marc Lanthier, commander of the Canadian Army, said:
“Not only was he decorated for saving lives during World War II but he spent his entire adult life serving Canada and inspiring fellow soldiers both on active duty and in honorary positions.”
Hart enrolled in the Army Reserve in 1937 and was deployed to England and France during the Second World War.
Hart told the Canadian Army during a 2017 interview: “The fire was terrible. There was mortar fire and there were machine-gun nests in the cliffs which weren’t seen by our intelligence people because they had them covered, and they had heavy six-pounder or more cannons shooting at us.”
“People were being shot at. People were being killed all over. It was an absolute catastrophe, and I could see and hear the disaster taking place all around me. We were left immobilized near the beach, and I thought I was going to be taken, prisoner.”
Hart, who was a communications operator, asked headquarters to let him off the air to save lives.
“Discipline was very rigid those days as far as using the radio. I had to ask for permission to get off the air and was told ‘no’ because I was the only communications forward and back,”
“I got off the air, got a hold of the two units, gave them the order to come out and was back on the air in 30 seconds.”
Hart managed to coordinate “a critical change to the timing of rescue craft facing relentless enemy bombardment,” the Canadian Armed Forces’ communications association said in its obituary.
Hart was awarded the British Military Medal by King George VI at Buckingham Palace for his act of bravery.
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