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View Tree for William James SargeantWilliam James Sargeant (b. 25 Jul 1920, d. 26 Sep 1962)


Picture of William James Sargeant
William James Sargeant

William James Sargeant (son of Samuel Cleveland Sargeant and Mary Brownscombe)332 was born 25 Jul 1920 in Owen Sound Ontario333, 334, and died 26 Sep 1962 in Belleville, Ontario335, 336. He married Muriel Stickley.

 Includes NotesNotes for William James Sargeant:
[SargeantFamilyTree.FTW]

William James Sargeant k/a Billy

Billy was born in Owen Sound Ontario to Cliff and Mary Sargeant. He attended Victoria Public School and Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute. He starred on the rugby field and was one of the earliest members of the Owen Sound Boys Band

In 1939 he left Owen Sound and went to Hamilton where he was employed. There he trained at nights before being placed on active service in the Royal Canadian Navy during WW2. Newspaper reports show him visiting his home in Owen Sound, holding the rank of Leading Signaller. His obituary said he was a lieutenant.

He served aboard minesweeper HMS Stratford. My father was under the impression that he served aboard a corvette.

He worked for Mercury Mills in Hamilton and then after taking a hairdressing course, worked a number of places before buying the Vogue Beauty Salon in Belleville.

Roseline-" Billy was a bright happy lad who came often to our home in the country. I have snaps of him, one in which we stuffed his trousers with, I don't know what and took a picture. Before he was born, his mother took the cow's tail and ran around the yard hanging on to that tail for dear life. ...Bill was a signaler in WW2. He succumbed to cancer quite early years leaving a wife and children"[SargeantFamilyTree.FBK]

Billy was a member of the Royal Canadian Navy in WW2. He served aboard minesweeper Stratford. He worked for Mercury Mills in Hamilton and then after taking a hairdressing course, worked a number of places before buying the Vogue Beauty Salon in Belleville.

Roseline-" Billy was a bright happy lad who came often to our home in the country. I have snaps of him, one in which we stuffed his trousers with, I don't know what and took a picture. Before he was born, his mother took the cow's tail and ran around the yard hanging on to that tail for dear life. ...Bill was a signaler in WW2. He succumbed to cancer quite early years leaving a wife and children"

Email 4 May 2006
Hi John:
I just noticed that you had added a bio and photo for my father. It is a great photo of my Dad as a teenager which I had never seen before. Do you have any other portrait styled photos of my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.??
Just a few notes for his bio. You mention his rugby abilities but he was actually an all round athlete during his high school days. He also played hockey at a high level, was a life guard and the Harrison Park public swimming pool and would make an annual swim across Georgian Bay which he claimed was about 3 miles in distance. He thought his best feats were accomplished in track and field events where he competed at both the district and all Ontario levels. I remember a silver cup he won for placing second in hurdles at the all Ontario meet and there were numerous medals and ribbons from other meets.
When he moved to Hamilton after his high school days were finished he hooked up with a local young man by the name of Carson Dyson who was also an exceptional high school athlete. He and my Dad were the best of friends and ended up enlisting in the military at about the same time. As you know, my father elected to join the navy and during his medical examination, they advised him he had the most acute vision they ever tested and recommended he consider the signal corps where vision was critical to the job. He enjoyed better than 20/20 vision his whole life. His friend Carson joined the air force and ended up as a bomber pilot based in England. He failed to return from a 1943 bombing mission over Aachen, Germany and was buried in Belgium. I was named after his friend. After training, my Dad was stationed primarily out of CFB Statacona (Halifax) and was assigned to a number of ships serving on the North Atlantic but his medals also include a clasp for France and Germany. I have no idea when he was involved in these theatres as I had always thought that his duties were convoy related and limited to the North Atlantic. My Dad was not very forthcoming in his discussions surrounding his war time experiences other than the social times. He said he had no interest in joining the Legion to rehash war stories for the rest of his life and simply wanted to put the war behind him so anything I know was gleaned from his service records. In the early years, he served on a couple a destroyer type ships that proved to be no match for the German U-boats. He then moved onto the minesweeper, HMCS Stratford. His picture appeared on the front of the Toronto Star with the mayor of Stratford when he participated in the christening cermonies which my Mom may have shown you. After that he served on a couple of corvette styled ships which proved to be better suited to hunting down and destroying the u-boats. One of these was the Trentonian which was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel in the final year of the war. His final year was spent on the HMCS Springhill which was a frigate. I believe the frigates were the lead ships in convoys and transported the commanding officer of the entire convoy. They were about twice the size of the corvettes.

Gotta go. A new grandaughter just arrived and we've been summoned to the initial viewing.

Dyson


More About William James Sargeant:
Burial: Unknown, Belleville Cemetery , Belleville, On.337, 338

More About William James Sargeant and Muriel Stickley:
Private-Begin: Private

Children of William James Sargeant and Muriel Stickley are:
  1. +Vernon William Sargeant.
  2. +Kenneth John Sargeant.
  3. +Maureen Sargeant.
  4. +Dyson James Sargeant.
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