Elbert Watson Dowd

Our soldier is Elbert DWOD, son of Mary and Norman DWOD. He was born and raised in Canada, living in Ottawa Ontario and going to Queens University. Born on November 7th 1916 and worked as a civil engineer in and out of the war. He had no siblings and was Unitarian living on 159 First Ave, Ottawa, Canada when he enlisted in kingston. He is a male with no marks or scars, he is 5 '11, he weighed 165 pounds, he had blue eyes and brown hair, good development, abnormal heart, all normal tests everywhere else. His hobbies included photography and schoolwork due to the difficulty of his degree.He worked in Ottawa and Sault Ste Marie, he is a single anglo saxon who can only speak english but as his first language. He seemed to be a pretty enclosed personality who kept to himself.

Elbert DOWD was a civil engineer in the second world war. Engineers in the second world war provided battle maps to soldiers, repaired and built roads, cleared mines and roadblocks, filled in creator and anti tank ditches and constructed headquarters and hospitals. This allowed tanks and infantry to continue their assault when blocked by creators or other obstacles. Engineers in world war 2 were so important and a key part of the way that the war played out.

Dowd sadly died in action while on campaign in Italy. He succumbed to his wounds from the fighting. His grave is located in Montecchio in the Commune of Montelabbate in the province of Pesaro. It is located just North of the main road.

Primary Source Documents : https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2381505?Elbert%20Watson%20Dowd

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2036902/montecchio-war-cemetery/

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4048727,-75.6880181,3a,56.7y,354.99h,95.3t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sBkLIgjts0ube1_HmCkcjNg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-5.299151902432783%26panoid%3DBkLIgjts0ube1_HmCkcjNg%26yaw%3D354.99058956268107!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205410&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyMS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/books&CFID=13061604&CFTOKEN=56237905

http://www.cwgc.org/

http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/newspapers/canadawar/royalairforce_e.html

The biographies appearing on this website have been written by students, roughly the same age as the soldiers they are studying, using primary source evidence from Library and Archives Canada, in addition to primary source documents from The Virtual War Memorial on veterans.ca. We welcome any corrections or additions you may have to these biographies.

'If we do preserve it, we honour them, and when we in our turn pass on, we will know that behind us lives a generation of free men and of free women to be the keepers of this great heritage of ours - Canada.'

- Ian A. McPhee, former student at GCI, 1937.

Glebe Collegiate Institute
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada

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