Thomas Brydges was born in Plympton Township, Lambton County on January 2, 1918, the son of Thomas Bertie Brydges (born in Camlachie) and Elizabeth (nee Beebe) Brydges, of Eureka Street, Petrolia. Thomas had three sisters–Frances Dorothy (born 1919), Kathleen Pearl (born 1922), and Blanche Elizabeth (born 1931–along with eight brothers: Alvin Bertie (born 1921); Arthur Beebe (born 1924); Charles Vincent (born 1925); Allen Ross (born 1927); James Ralph (born 1928); Eldon Wesley (born 1933); John Dalton (born 1936); and Lorne Elmer (born 1939). His father, Thomas Bert Brydges, was an employee of the Mueller Plant in Sarnia.

Thomas Brydges, single at the time, enlisted in the Canadian Army. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery, 4th Field Regiment, with the rank of Gunner. Three of his brothers also served with the Canadian Army, and all four boys of the Brydges family would serve in Holland. At the start of March 1945, Private Arthur Brydges, had been overseas for one year; Private Alvin Brydges, had been overseas for about two years (both Arthur and Alvin were with field ambulance units); Private Charles Vincent Brydges, who had enlisted in April 1944, arrived overseas early in 1945, serving in the infantry with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment at only 18 years of age; and Gunner Thomas Edwin Brydges had been overseas for five years. Just before the start of March 1945, brothers Arthur and Thomas Edwin met in Holland and spent a short time together. Only weeks later, Thomas Edwin would lose his life. His three brothers were all serving overseas in Holland at the time of Thomas’ death.

Gunner Thomas Brydges had arrived overseas in 1940, with a reinforcements unit for the 26th Battery. In January of 1944, Thomas Edwin would spend a leave together with his brother Alvin in Scotland. Thomas had been overseas for five years when, on March 12, 1945, Thomas Edwin Brydges died while fighting in Holland, during the Liberation of the Netherlands. In late March of 1945, Thomas Bertie and Elizabeth in Petrolia received a telegram from Ottawa informing them that their son, Gunner Edwin Brydges was killed in action in Holland or Belgium recently. Thomas Brydges would later be officially listed as, Overseas casualty, killed in action, in the field (Holland).

In mid-April of 1945, Thomas Bertie and Elizabeth would receive high tributes to the worth of their son Thomas Edwin as a man and as a soldier in letters of sympathy from his padre, Capt. A. Marshall Laverty, and his friend, T.S.M. Urie, Watford, of the same battery. The padre’s letter stated that Thomas Brydges was killed instantly on March 12th in the Reichwald Forest, Germany, when he encountered a mine. He was a “faithful diligent member of the crew,” the padre stated, and the funeral service was attended by the second in command, the acting battery Commander, and a great number of his friends. He added that the burial took place at Nejmegen, Holland, temporarily and it was expected that the Canadian dead would later be concentrated in a permanent cemetery. In expressing his great loss in the passing of Thomas Brydges, T.S.M. Urie stated he knew “Slim” better than anyone in the battery. “He was on my gun crew for over three years and I can safely say he was the best gunner in our troop.”

Twenty-seven year old Thomas Brydges is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands, Grave IV.A.2. On Thomas Brydges’ headstone are inscribed the words, Nobly he fell while fighting for liberty. Thomas Brydges’ name is also inscribed on the Petrolia cenotaph in the Town of Petrolia.

Thomas’ brother Charles Vincent would also serve in the Canadian army, as a Private with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, also in Holland. In mid-April of 1945, approximately one month after Thomas’ death, parents Bert and Elizabeth received another telegram informing them that their 18-year old son, Private Charles Vincent Brydges has been listed as missing in action in Western Europe. About one month later, they would receive a telegram informing them that Charles Vincent was now safe in England. He had been a prisoner of the Germans, but and had been released by the advance of the Allied forces and taken to England with the repatriated prisoners. The war in Europe would end on May 8, 1945.

SOURCES: C, D, E, F, L, N, 2C, 2D