Adam Conway was born in Belfast, Ireland on April 25, 1921, the only son of Edward Conway and Anne Conway of Northern Ireland. Adam first arrived in Canada (port in Quebec) on July 28, 1922, aboard the ship Metagama, when he was only 11 months old. His family then travelled by train to Sarnia, where they would reside at 218 Confederation Street, and later 342 Queen Street, Sarnia. The Conway family visited Ireland in 1929, returning from Belfast to Canada (port of Montreal) on August 24, 1929 aboard the passenger ship Andania. Adam was eight years old at the time. Adam’s father Edward recorded his occupation as a labourer, his wife Anne as a housewife.
Adam would marry Gladys Margaret McKellar of London, the youngest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Wesley McKellar. Adam and Gladys were married in a quiet wedding in Devine Street United Church on June 20, 1942. At the ceremony, Gladys’ attendant was Miss Shirley Smith, while the bridegroom was attended by Arthur Fleck. Following the ceremony, a reception was held at the Vendome Hotel, after which the couple left on a wedding trip to Toronto and points east. The newlywed couple would then reside at 342 Queen Street, Sarnia, with Adam recording his occupation as a labourer.
Adam Conway enlisted in the Canadian Army in Windsor, Ontario in July 1942. He would become a member of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, R.C.I.C., attaining the rank of Corporal. For some time before going overseas to England, Adam was an instructor at the Chatham Basic Training Centre. In early October 1943, Gladys in Sarnia would receive a cable from her husband Adam, in which he informed her that he had arrived overseas with a detachment of the Canadian Army. He also stated that the crossing was “uneventful.”
Less than a year and a half after arriving overseas, on March 24, 1945, Adam Conway would lose his life while fighting in Germany, during the Liberation of the Netherlands. In early April 1945, wife Gladys Conway and parents Edward and Anne Conway, at 342 Queen Streeet, Sarnia, would receive a telegram from the Director of Records at Ottawa informing them that, Cpl. Adam Edward Conway, has been killed in action in Germany. Only one and a half months after Adam Conway’s death, the war in Europe would end. Adam Conway would later be officially listed as, Overseas casualty, killed in action, in the field (Germany). Twenty-three year old Adam Conway is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands, Grave XIX.A.12. On Adam Conway’s headstone are inscribed the words, In memory of a brave soldier who died that his country might live.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, L, N, 2C, 2D