O’Callaghan, Timothy Joseph Private
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Royal Canadian Infantry Corps B – 117757
Timothy Joseph (Tim) O’Callaghan was born in Toronto, Ontario, on May 5th 1925. He was the son of Charles Callaghan and Anne Margaret Kelly. Father Charles was born in County Cork, Ireland. Mother Anne Margaret Kelly was born in Mount Forest, Ontario. Charle and Anne
Timothy Joseph (Tim) O’Callaghan was born in Toronto, Ontario, on May 5, 1925. He was the son of Charles O’Çallaghan and Annie Margaret Kelly. Father Charles was born in County Cork, Ireland. Mother Annie was born in Mount Forrest, Ontario. Charles and Annie were married on August 4, 1922, in Toronto, Ontario, and had three children: Johanna, James, and Tim. James also served in the Canadian Army, he had army number: B – 165341. The family was Roman Catholic.
Tim attended St. Patrick’s Separate School in Toronto and Central Technical School. After graduating from Grade X, he left education at the age of sixteen and went to work in the metal industry. Before enlisting in the Army, he worked as a printer at the Underwood Typewriter Company in Toronto. After the war, he would like to return to this employer or work in a machine shop.
In 1940, the National Resources Mobilization Act was passed in Canada. Available men were called upon to register to enlist as volunteers, initially to defend the home country of Canada. At the age of seventeen, Tim responded to the call and reported in Toronto in June 1942. He was given army number B – 426416. He was assigned to the Queen’s York Rangers in Toronto and went to training camp twice.
On October 7, 1943, five months after his eighteenth birthday, Tim enlisted for active duty in the Canadian Army. After his registration, he was medically examined and interviewed. He was also given a new army number.
The medical examination showed that he was a healthy young man with blue eyes and brown hair. He was 5 feet and 5 inches tall and weighed 124 pounds. After the interview, he was described as a bright-looking, agile youth. He also impressed with his good comradery and was expected to score high when it came to camaraderie. Tim indicated he enjoyed bowling and billiards in his spare time and read a lot, mainly literature. He was keen to join the army and preferred to serve in a mortar platoon, as he already had experience with it during his training camps with the Queen’s York Rangers. Given his intelligence, alertness, evident manual dexterity and capacity for smooth co-operation, the recommendation was to place Tim with the infantry in a mortar crew.
On November 20, 1943, Tim started his basic training in Brantford, Ontario. He was on leave during the Christmas season. After basic training in Brantford, he trained at the infantry training centre in Aldershot, Nova Scotia. Here it was recorded that he had a lot of talent and was ready for battle. On March 1, 1944, he was transferred to Camp Borden, Ontario, to complete his infantry training. Due to revised quota, Tim was not eligible for a mortar platoon. He indicated that he was also interested in training to become a Despatch Rider. More than two weeks later, it was noted that his infantry training had been completed, he had obtained his motorcycle license and he was ready to go overseas. From 1 May 1944 he was given fourteen days of leave to say goodbye to his family. A month later, he boarded a ship to sail to the United Kingdom. Tim arrived here on June 24.
In England, he trained for more than three months with a general reinforcement unit of the infantry.
On 16 October 1944, Tim made the crossing from England to Belgium by ship. Two weeks later he was assigned to the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) as a Signaller for C Company.
The RHLI had been active at the front in Western Europe since 5 July 1944 and fought heavy battles during the Battle of the Scheldt on Zuid- Beveland, the Netherlands, before Tim’s arrival. The day Tim joined his regiment, the RHLI was stationed in Mechelen, Belgium. A week later, the regiment left for the vicinity of the city of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
The RHLI was stationed in the area around Groesbeek-Grave. There were a lot of patrols and they had found shelters in a number of Horsha gliders that were used during Operation Market Garden. The enemy positions were in most cases no more than a hundred yards from the forward positions and the Germans used police dogs to send in the patrols.
On 23 November, they received orders to move in the direction of Mook. On 25 November, the area was under shell and mortar fire from the enemy. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
In December 1944, new orders were issued to return to the Groesbeek area. As they advanced to the new area, the RHLI came under enemy shell fire and six casualties were to be regretted. The unit spend the next day clearing their company areas and improving their dugouts and deepening trenches.
All companies reported that their areas were in a dirty state, there was a lot of garbage and old army stuff.
The next few days were spent on patrol walking and the enemy was active with snipers and mortar fire. They stayed in the Groesbeek area until Christmas Day 1944, when they received orders to go to Driehuizen, where they enjoyed a well-deserved Christmas dinner.
On 29 December, orders were given to go to Boxtel, where they arrived at 11.30 pm. The Essex Scottish Regiment held a parade with their bagpipe band to celebrate the New Year 1945. During these first days of the new year, the shelters where you can read and watch movies, were enjoyed. The condition of the men was also maintained and the new reinforcements completed their training. On 6 January they left again for the vicinity of Driehuizen, to the area where they had been before.
The time was also used to regain strength for Operation Veritable, the Battle of the Rhineland. On 8 February, at 05.00 hours, Operation Veritable erupted with a gigantic artillery fire of more than a thousand guns in the area around Nijmegen. It was the largest attack ever carried out from Dutch territory. For the British and Canadian forces, commanded by British Field Marshal Montgomery, it was the largest attack since D- Day. More than 500,000 men had been massed for the attack. Tim and the RHLI were in Groesbeek that day. They had a good view of the attack. Everything along the front seemed to be on fire. At 9:30 a.m., the infantry troops crossed the border. Around 11:00 a.m., the first wounded and prisoners of war were brought in. On the first day of Operation Veritable, most goals were achieved. But as it thawed, the landscape turned into a big mud puddle and Operation Veritable proceeded much slower than expected. In addition, the Germans breached a number of dikes, so that a large part of the land along the Rhine River was flooded. On 12 February, the RHLI left for Nijmegen.
On 14 February, orders were given to cross the border and march on Calcar and Xanten. Due to rising water and shell and mortar fire, the regiment’s next operation, on 17 February, to clear the forest of the enemy at Goch/Kalkar, was postponed for forty-eight hours.
On 19 February at 11:00 a.m., the attack was launched with A and B Company, who were on Kangaroos, C and D Company followed on foot and a platoon of Carriers provided support on the flanks with rifles and flamethrowers.
The next day, the road conditions were even worse than the day before, due to the rain that had fallen. The regiment was attacked at eight o’clock in the morning, with a number of soldiers of the German army even meeting their enemy on bicycles. The RHLI resisted with the use of anti-tank weapons and destroyed four German tanks. The infantry supporting the attack was then quickly dispersed with minimal losses. Later in the day, all Canadian positions were shelled by German mortars. During the fighting, there were many casualties on both sides.
One of the victims was nineteen-year-old Private Timothy Joseph O’Callaghan. On 20 February 1945 he died of his wounds sustained during the fighting for the road between Goch and Calcar.
He was buried in a temporary military cemetery in Bedburg, Germany.
On 21 September 1945 he was reburied at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, grave reference XI.
Tim received the following awards:
1939 – 45 Star
France & Germany Star
War Medal 1939 – 1945
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp
Toronto Telegram
Life story:Mia Batina and Fleur Huntjens: Canisius College, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
supported and supplemented by Sigrid Norde: Research Team Faces To Graves.
Sources:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Library and Archives Canada
www.veterans.gc.ca/fra/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war- memorial/detail/2232321
www.facestograves.nl/assets/PDF/Missing_photos.pdf
www.canada.ca/en/services/defence/caf/military-identity-system/army- ranks.html
www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2232321/timothy- joseph-o-callaghan/
www.lestweforget1945.org/ www.seaburnemay.ca/2018/07/annie-margaret-ocallaghan-nee-kelly/
*If you have a photo of this soldier or additional information, please contact info@facestograves.nl
This Post was taken directly from The “Faces to Graves” Website. A special thank you to them for taking the time to trace all those that died and are buried in War Grave Groesbeek.
My wife and I have been to visit the War Graves site and the care and attention it is given by the local people is exceptional
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