Twenty-two is too young to die, but that was the sad fate of Second World War soldier Kenneth Middleton Hutchinson.
Hutchinson was born in Duhamel, Alberta, but was working on a farm near Airdrie when he decided to enlist in Camrose in 1942.
He left for basic training in August of that year, later serving in England and France before he was killed in action.
Middleton was part of the Canadian 10th Armoured Regiment, the Fort Garry Horse, and came ashore in Normandy, France just after D-Day. On July 4, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was set to engage in one of Canada’s costliest battles of the war – a battle called “Operation Windsor” – at Carpiquet airfield.
The Fort Garry Horse tanks and machine gunners were tasked with acting in support of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles (RWR) as they advanced over virtually flat terrain against an entrenched 12th SS-Panzer Division of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth), one of the most fanatical Nazi elements in the field.
Carpiquet airfield was also fortified with minefields, field gun and machine gun emplacements manned by I Battalion, SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 26, with an anti-aircraft battery and fifteen tanks.
As the Canadians attacked on July 4, 1944, the Germans could easily see them coming. The Germans let loose with devastating mortar fire, inflicting heavy casualties on the Canadian infantry and tanks.
Altogether, 13 Canadian tanks were lost on the first day of the attack – Hutchinson’s among them.
The Canadians would regroup and attack again on July 5, finally taking the airport. They were forced to fend off several massive German counter-attacks after that. They held out and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.
Canadian casualties for Operation Windsor totalled 377, of which 127 men were killed, most on the battle’s first day. The 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment lost 17 tanks.
In a sad afternote to the battle, Hutchinson’s family were originally informed that he had survived the battle, only to learn later this news was tragically untrue.
Trooper Ken Hutchinson is buried at Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France.
—With files from the University of Calgary at The Military Museums Library and Archives and Glenbow Museum
