by Phil Egan
(2015) It sits quietly on the lawn in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62 on Front Street. Its massive gun is silent, but the battle tank “Calamity” still carries an unmistakeable air of deadly menace.
As you might expect, there is a story behind it.
Alfred Brandon (Brandy) Conron was in his junior year at the University of Western Ontario when the Second World War broke out in 1939, and he wanted to serve. As a teenager, he had worked as a mechanic at a garage in Burford and he was known as a skilled and fast driver on the open road, so it was not surprising when he chose London’s First Hussars for his enlistment. The idea of serving in a tank regiment appealed to him.
The First Hussars were already a distinguished regiment when war broke out, but new battle honours would soon be won. They trace their origins from two independent cavalry troops in London and St. Thomas, formed in 1856 and joined the year of Confederation as “St. Thomas and London Squadron of Canada”. They stood on guard during the Fenian Scare, when “Fighting Tom” Sweeney’s fanatical Irish-Catholics sought to liberate Canada from imperialist rule. Designated “Hussars,” or light cavalry in 1888, they were amalgamated into the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles at the outbreak of the Great War, having already won their first official battle honours during the Boer War. One of the CMR officers was an Owen Sound lad named William Avery (Billy) Bishop who, with 72 enemy aircraft kills to his credit, would later be awarded the Victoria Cross.
The unit fought with distinction at Vimy Ridge in 1917, and especially in the “Hundred Days” series of fights in late 1918, when Canadians took the lead in chasing the defeated German army back towards the Rhine.
Twenty-six years later, the Canadians were back in Europe fighting Germans again, and Brandy Conron found himself and his First Hussars serving as a reconnaissance unit within the Canadian Armoured Corps. On “D Day,” June 6, 1944, he drove a tank named “Calamity” as the Canadians stormed ashore at Juno Beach. Amidst fierce fighting, Conron would become the only tank commander to reach his assigned point that day. Later promoted to Major and given command of a tank squadron, Conron was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
The First Hussars came to Sarnia in 1964, having resumed their role as a reserve armoured reconnaissance training unit. In order to facilitate training, they brought with them a 76 MM cannon and a Sherman tank. The cannon was installed in the basement of the Federal Building. The tank found housing at the Hydro building located at Front and Nelson Streets. The tank had steel tracks which would have destroyed city streets. Senior NCO’s under Sgt. Rick Young changed the tracks to rubber.
In 1967, the First Hussars’ responsibilities shifted from armoured artillery training to reconnaissance, and the heavy weaponry became expendable. The Sherman tank, christened “Calamity” to honour Brandy Conron’s D-Day exploits for the “Gallant Hussars,” was offered to Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62. Dedicated three days before Remembrance Day in 1970, Calamity has served as a tribute to the fighting men of this glorious Canadian regiment who braved the killing beaches of Normandy in 1944 to liberate France and the rest of Europe from Nazi tyranny.
Calamity is not the only memorial tank celebrating the regiment. “Bold” remains in Normandy, and “Holy Roller” performs a similar service in London, Ontario.
The generation that served in Canada’s armed forces, liberated Europe and saved the world from the warring Germans and Japanese has rightfully been called “the Greatest Generation.” They survived a global Depression, served their country at a time of deadly peril, and came home to build Sarnia and the Chemical Valley into a vibrant, thriving community in the years after the war. As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, we need to take pause now and again to recall their sacrifices, and the daunting objectives they accomplished.
The next time you drive past the Legion, take another glance at Calamity, and give yourself a moment to remember them.