In Memory of Private Eli Southorn, 1913-1945

Eli Southorn was born in Mount Dennis on December 9, 1913 to Alfred Southorn and Amelia Smithson. Eli was born at home, at 26 Lambton Avenue. Eli was one of seven children, with siblings Alfred, Alice, Clarence, Frances, Ivy, and Roy.

According to the Occupational History Form completed at the time of his enlistment, Eli left school at age 13 and ended up working at his father’s company, A.G. Southorn. The A.G. Southorn company was engaged in the manufacture and repair of automotive bearings, and Eli’s occupation was listed on the occupational form as a machinist. At the tender age of 20, Eli married Mary Ann Bell, daughter of James Bell and Elizabeth Coburn. They were married at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church, at Vaughan and Dufferin. On the marriage licence, Eli is listed as Anglican and Mary as United Church.

The arrival of three children soon followed: Audrey, Jack and Linda. They were living just up the street from Eli’s parents—at 239 Lambton Avenue—at the time Eli enlisted. From basic training in Brantford, to vocational training in Toronto, Eli was recognized for his technical skill and prepared for the job of “fitter.” In the Commonwealth armies, the role of fitter described someone tasked with repairing vehicles and equipment. His background with bearings, and knowledge of automobile repair would be fine preparation for the role.

Over the next year or so, Eli spent much of his time between Barriefield (outside Kingston) and the army camp at Petawawa. He also trained as an armourer, a job that involved maintaining and repairing weapons, as well as ensuring the safe storage of these weapons. Fully trained, Eli finally departed for England in July of 1944. He went where he was needed: first transferred to the Winnipeg Grenadiers, and finally to the Highland Light Infantry of Canada.

On December 15, 1944, he arrived in Europe to help prepare for the next phase of the Allied effort. The regiment spent the next two months in an area known as the Waal Flats, rotating between dugouts in the damp Dutch earth, and occasional time spent in relative comfort of the town of Nijmegen. Complains from the soldiers of the Highland Brigade were few, however, when they considered the suffering of the Dutch people. In the midst of a blockade on food and fuel—retaliation for Dutch resistance—the brigade did what little they could do to help. Children who made their way into the camp were given any food that could be spared.

On February 8, 1945, Operation VERITABLE began: an Allied effort to breach the westernmost defences, cross the Rhine, and advance into Germany. In the area between Nijmegen and the ancient city of Cleve, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division fought along the flooded flats near the Rhine, while the British fought in the Reichswald forest and the notorious Sigfried Line. Between February 10 and 11, the Highland Brigade fought through Duffelward and into Wardhausen. Sometime during the fighting on the 11th, Eli was killed in action.

Private Eli Southorn is buried in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, within perhaps a dozen kilometers of where he fell. The cemetery is the final resting place for 2,338 Canadians who were killed in the Rhineland battles of 1945. Private Southorn is also remembered on page 556 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa.