Royal Canadian Legion

IJzendijke, The Netherlands

10 September at 1400 hours a wreath laying ceremony was held at the IJzendijke Memorial to pay tribute and honour the victums of an accidential explosion that took place near this memorial on 20 October 1944. The explosion claimed the lives of 41 British and Canadian soldiers and injured another 51 some of which would be fatal. The majority of the soldiers present on that fateful day were from 284 Armoured Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers and soldiers of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps of the 7th Infantry Brigade.

It is unclear what actually caused the initial explosion and since no official investigation was ever done the incident went basically unrecorded. Finally Lance Sergeant Charles Martin Reagan who was here as the Commander of a Churchill Tank in 3 Troop decided to write his account of events which occurred on that sad day. His account is a tribute to the sacrifice of those who lost their lives, those who were wounded and those who survived with scars which cannot be seen all deserve recognition and their efforts should be recorded.

This years ceremony was held under ideal conditions and a surprising number of local residents attended. In adition to our Legion Colour Party, our pipper and members it was also a pleasure to have members of the NSB join us with their flag party.

A full account of this tradegy can be found here