Jay, Albert Edward
| Albert Edward Jay | |
|---|---|
| 2 February 1924 – 23 April 1945 | |
 | |
| Place of birth | Toronto, Ontario |
| Place of death | Netherlands |
| Place of burial | Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Service/branch | Canadian Army |
| Years of service | 1942-1945 |
| Rank | Signalman |
Early Life
Albert Edward Jay was born 2 February 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. He was the only child of Alice Ruth, a stay home mom and Fredrick Jay, a carpenter. In 1940, Albert left high school at the age of 16. For a short time following school, he worked for a Toronto shoe factory then for the next year and half he was employed by the Bell Telephone Company as a public utility telephone installer. Never married, Albert attended the United Church of Canada in downtown Toronto. He was a slim man standing five feet and eight and a quarter inches tall and weighing 138 lb. Albert had hazel eyes with perfect vision and a healed one-inch scar just above his left knee.
Service
Just weeks after his eighteenth birthday, Albert Jay enlisted into the Reserve Force as part of Divisional C Coy for the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS) in March 1942.
Albert Jay, now Signalman Jay (regimental number B/134241), was transferred to the RCCS #2 Coy R Wing on 30 October 1942 and on 22 November he was sent to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for the Canadian Army Basic Training Corps (CABTC). Graduating basic training on 27 January 1943, Sigmn Jay was promptly attached to the Canadian Signals Training Centre (CSTC) in Kingston, Ontario for trades training the next day.
He qualified as a Lineman on 30 April 1943. From there he was attached to the Atlantic Command Signals in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 14 October, Albert returned to CABTC in New Glasgow for further training. Between November 1943 and March 1944, he bounced around detachments throughout Quebec and Nova Scotia to areas like Ste. Anne des Monts and Fox River, QC and Windsor, NS. On 31 March, he was attached to the Canadian Army Overseas unit.
Sigmn Jay was sent abroad and landed in the UK on 7 April 1944. The next day, 8 April, he was attached to the 1 Canadian Signals Reinforcement Unit. On 31 May 1944, Albert was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. While in the UK he was on loan to the 21 Army Group (Lineman C section) and attached to the 21 Army Group HQ. He departed England on 21 December and landed in North Western Europe 31 December 1944.
On 23 April 1945, Sigmn Albert Edward Jay was killed in action serving with First Canadian Army Signals in the Western European theatre of war in Holland. On 25 April 1945 he was temporarily buried in Arnhem’s 5 Canadian Division Cemetery marked with a wooden cross. He was later reburied in the Groesbeek Cemetery, Grave 14, Row A, Plot 7.
Sigmn Albert Edward Jay received the 1939-1945 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, 1939-45 War Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and clasp.
Related Items
Jay, Albert Edward grave marker
Jay, Albert Edward
References and Footnotes
- ↑ Research by MCpl Kirk Kreitzer.