Lt. George Gregg

George Gregg was born on Feb. 27, 1919, in East York, Toronto. One of five children, he had two brothers, Bill and Jack, and two sisters, Gladys and Ethel. Gladys married Albert Dunn who became a tank driver with the Royal Horseguards while Gladys worked at the munition plant in Ajax, Ontario, and Ethel married Howard Alexander who joined the army and became a POW. George was married to Marjorie, and had a son, George, when he enlisted in 1941, age 22. 

He trained at Camp Borden as well as at Gordon Head, B.C. with the Toronto Scottish Regiment (TSR). They went overseas in June 1943, and saw action in France. On July 6, 1944, one month after D-Day, the TSR was part of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. They formed part of a support battalion as the Allied forces continued to push the Germans eastward. They were four fighting companies – three machine gun companies and one mortar company. Five days later the TSR B Company took over the position of a British unit near Verson, during the Battle of Bourgeois Bridge. 

On July 18th as part of Operation Atlantic, TSR A and B Machine Gun Companies and D Mortar Company assisted the Royal Regiment of Canada in the attack on Louvigny. The next day D Company crossed the Orne River to support attacks on Saint-Andrew-sur-Arne and Versiers by the Canadian Infantry Brigades. 

July 20th the battalion moved headquarters across the Orne and positioned themselves on the southwest edge of Vaucelles ready to support the unfolding battles to the south. On that same day Lt. Gregg was hit by mortar shell fragments in his chest. He died of his wounds en route to the nearby hospital, aged 25. He is buried in the Commonwealth Cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer, grave X1 D5. He is also commemorated on page 322 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance at the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

His Great-great niece, Jazmin Eickmeier, visited his grave and gave remembrance during the 2017 Honour Them Well trip by staff and students from Uxbridge Secondary School. Jazmin also arranged for Lt. Gregg’s nephew (her grandfather) Jim Dunn to attend the Peace Tower service of remembrance on July 7, 2018. Jim was allowed to touch his uncle’s name in the book. Wendy Dunn, Lt. Gregg’s great-niece, and her husband Greg Eickmeier participated in the Honour Them Well 80th anniversary Liberation of the Netherlands Tour in April 2025. They visited his grave and paid remembrance there. 

We will Remember Them