Private Ivan Guy Lee enlisted in the Canadian Army on November 15, 1943, in Montreal, Quebec. One of ten children, he was a vital breadwinner for his family. While his reasons for leaving a good job to enlist remain unknown, he possessed an adventurous spirit. He initially volunteered for the paratroopers but was rejected because he wore glasses.
Local researcher Wally Schoofs later helped Ivan’s nephew, Rod Lee, trace the soldier’s final movements and grasp the intensity of the regional fighting. Although the exact street where Private Lee was fatally wounded on September 27, 1944, is unknown, historical context provides a vivid picture.
“Antwerp was liberated on September 4, 1944, but the German Wehrmacht stubbornly held onto our region because they could continue to threaten the port from here,” Schoofs explains. “The Dessel-Schoten Canal became a formidable obstacle. Brecht was on the front line for almost a month. During that period, a battle was fought here that ranks among the heaviest of our country’s liberation. Thirty-two civilians were killed. The Canadians and British lost 122 and 16 soldiers, respectively, while the Germans suffered about 180 casualties.”
Private Lee was wounded just days before Brecht was liberated, while his unit, the South Saskatchewan Regiment, prepared to move into the Netherlands. He succumbed to his injuries at a field hospital at the age of 22. Today, he rests at the Schoonselhof Cemetery in Antwerp. As a Canadian liberator, he holds the solemn distinction of being the first Chinese Canadian from Montreal to be killed in action during the Second World War.
Full-page article in the Antwerp Gazette from September 13, 2022
