Corporal Carl Alfred Hyde

Department of National Defence Estates Branch Inventory:

4 handkerchiefs
1 woolen sweater
1 pin, collar
1 writing tablet
1 cap badge
4 souvenir coins
1 dress shirt

So lists the personal effects of Corporal Carl Alfred Hyde, 29 years of age, husband, father of two young children ages 8 and 5…killed in Germany on March 13, 1945, while lifting a mine.

Carl was born at home in Georgetown, to Alfred Hyde (Royal Artillery) and Rhoda Symons on October 13, 1915…the fourth of five children (William, Walter, Winnifred and Ernest WW2). Alfred and Rhoda had immigrated to Canada from England in 1905 and Alfred listed his occupation as farmer on the 1921 Census. The family lived in a home that they owned on Main St. in Georgetown, located at 91 Main St. North.

In 1931, Carl’s father identified himself as a dairy farmer and at ages 15 and 13, Carl and Ernest were the only children left at home, with Carl working as an apprentice in a plumbing shop, Ernest at this time still as student. Carl had left school at age 14…his highest grade attained being Grade 8.

By 1936, Carl (a plumber) married Agnes Isley (a factory worker) in Acton at St. Joseph’s manse. Carl was 21 and Alice was 17, the couple soon blessed with two children… Winnifred Anne born in 1937 and Rodney Carl born in 1939. As many brave young Georgetown men did, Carl joined in the war effort, specifically the Royal Canadian Engineers, 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion on July 7, 1940 and he served in Canada, the United Kingdom and in Northwest Europe (France, Belgium, Holland and Germany) until March 13, 1945. That was the day the world ended for the Hyde family…a son, brother, husband and father lost to the horrors of war.

Carl did not come home to Georgetown as his family had hoped but was rather laid to eternal rest in a cemetery far away from home, buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands.

Carl is commemorated on the Georgetown Cenotaph, Remembrance Park and on plaques at St. John’s United Church, Georgetown

Truly a Canadian Hero. His story lives on. *Information taken from Ancestry.ca and Findagrave.com