Although the Dieppe Raid took place on August 19, 1942, it was months before the names of the missing and killed were released. The government wasn’t incompetent; it just took months to sort everything out.
Lists of men who did not return the England after the Raid were kept and each was marked with an ‘X’, indicating it was not know if they had died or were POWs.
Slowly the Red Cross, working with the Germans, developed and released names. On Sunday, November 8, 1942 more names were released.
Private Thomas Stainton, Essex Scottish Regiment
Tommy was seriously wounded at Dieppe, taken prisoner and died of his wounds. He was buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension (Rouen), Seine-Maritime, France.
The Moose Jaw Times Herald reported:
“Born in England, he came to western Canada with his parents in early boyhood. The family settled in Moose Jaw and the deceased was educated at Ross Public School and Ross Collegiate. Before leaving for Chatham, Ontario, in 1937, where he was employed with the Libby Company, he worked for a time with Harvey’s Grocery and Holland’s Meat Market.
“Private Stainton is survived by his widow (Moose Jaw girl Miss Daisy Dorothea Ambrose), one daughter, Joan, both living in Chatham, Ontario, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stainton, Regina, formerly of Moose Jaw, and two sisters, Mrs. Harvey Archer, Moose Jaw and Mrs. G. Hopkins, Vancouver.”
Circumstances of Battle at Dieppe
Tommy Stainton, along with 552 Essex and Scottish Regiment soldiers landed at dawn in front of the town of Dieppe. They never breached the sea-wall. They were ordered to retreat and board landing craft at 11:00 AM intending to return to England.
Only 53 made it back to England – many wounded. The Regiment was wiped out.
The Globe and Mail Interviews One of the Last Essex Scottish Survivors
In August 2012, on the 70th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, a number of Canadians returned to Dieppe. Arthur Edmondson Rossell, Age 92 of the Essex Scottish Regiment, one of the 53 survivors, was interviewed by the Globe and Mail newspaper.
He told the reporter he’d come out of it without a scratch – which was not true. He’d spent 18 days in a coma and many months recovering in the hospital.
Arthur Rossell told the reporter, “I was a lucky man because when we hit the water, I was supposed to be a bodyguard for the Brigadier-General. I had been transferred to it a week before. After the Brigadier-General got in about five or six feet of water, he was wounded, and we had to get him back on the landing craft. By that time, they were starting to move out from the beach, but they threw ropes out. There were three of us that caught the ropes and were dragged out to sea. They say we were pulled aboard after we were out in the water.”
Art, a 50-year member of the British Canadian Club, died 2 years later (2014) in Brampton, Ontario
Reference
Dieppe remembered, 70 years later: ‘We reached the beach, all hell broke loose’ - The Globe and Mail
Summary
Tom Stainton’s parents, William and Mary Lizzie Stainton moved to Moose Jaw in 1929 from Cumbria, England. They later moved to Regina.
Many members of the Ambrose family remained in Moose Jaw.
The last surviving member of the Essex Scottish Regiment who landed at Dieppe was Pte. Leslie Tetler. He was taken prisoner, survived the war and returned to Windsor, Ontario. He died March 5, 2017 at the age of 97.
