QUINN, LLOYD
David ‘Lloyd’ Quinn was born September 17, 1924 the son James and Ellen (Gardiner) Quinn of Balsam Road[1].
Above, Lloyd Quinn
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, Paratrooper
Army
The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Canadian Army formed in July 1942. It served in conjunction with the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944 and in the airborne assault crossing of the Rhine River in March 1945. By the end of the war the battalion had gained a remarkable reputation: they never failed to complete a mission, and they never gave up an objective once taken. They are the only Canadians to participate in the Battle of the Bulge and had advanced deeper than any other Canadian unit into enemy territory. Despite being a Canadian Army formation, it was assigned to the British 3rd Parachute Brigade.
In Operation Tonga, a part of Operation Overlord (the Normandy Invasion), on the evening on 5 June 1944 the battalion was transported to France in fifty aircraft. Each man carried a knife, toggle rope, escape kit with French currency, and two 24-hour ration packs in addition to their normal equipment, in all totaling 70 pounds. The battalion landed one hour in advance of the rest of the brigade in order to secure the Drop Zone. Thereafter they were ordered to destroy road bridges over the river Dives and its tributaries at Varaville, then neutralize strongpoints at the crossroads. In addition, the Canadians were to protect the left (southern) flank of the 9th Battalion, Parachute Regiment during that unit's attack on the Merville Battery, afterwards seizing a position astride the Le Mesnil crossroads, a vital position at the centre of the ridge.
[1] Some sources identify Lloyd’s parents as Andrew and Effie Annie (Junck) Quinn. In the Whitestone Historical Soceity’s Book dealing with the area between Dunchurch and McKellar, Lloyd is idenitifed as the some of James ‘Jack’ Quinn and his second wife Ellen Gardiner.
