This document was prepared and submitted to the Faces to Graves program in Holland.

Soule, William Colin - Signalman, First Canadian Army Royal Canadian Corps Of Signals B38505

William Colin Soule was born on October 16, 1912, in Lachine, Quebec, the only child of William Hornsby Soule and Jessie Alexina Soule (Foulis). Several years later the family moved to Coniston, Ontario, in the developing Sudbury mining area. Colin’s father was first employed by the Mond Nickel Company, then INCO, finishing his career as Electrical Superintendent of the Sudbury area operations.

Colin Soule entered primary school in Coniston, then attended secondary school at Albert College in Belleville, Ontario. He enjoyed sports such as baseball, golf and hockey, and activities suited to the woods of Northern Ontario, like hunting, fishing and canoeing. With an avid interest in aircraft, Colin enrolled in Air Service Training (AST) Hamble, near Southampton UK, and trained there for three years. [This later became a major wartime repair base for Spitfires.] During that period he had an exciting event that gained a good deal of news reporting when he fell out of an aircraft at 4000 feet. Fortunately, he was able to parachute safely to ground and so became a member of the “Caterpillar Club”. While he had hoped to be able to join the RCAF, this proved not to be possible once it was learned that he had a heart murmur.

Upon returning home, Colin took a position as an electrician with INCO for the next five years. During that time, after a period of courting, he married Anne Wasyliw, who had moved to Sudbury from Saskatchewan. Anne had grown up on a farm established by her Ukrainian, new-Canadian, parents. 

When the war broke out in Europe, Colin’s adventurous spirit prompted him to enlist, signing up in Toronto on March 23, 1942. His military records state he stood 6 feet and weighed 150 pounds. After joining the Royal Canadian Signals, he was posted to the Canadian Forces Base in Kingston, Ontario for training. That September his son John (Jack) was born and Colin was able to get leave to return to Sudbury for a visit.

On December 3rd his group left Kingston for posting overseas. Their ship departed Canada on December 11th and arrived in the United Kingdom on December 18, 1942. For the next one and a half years the troops trained and waited. Then, on June 6, 1944, Colin took part in the D-Day landing of the Canadian forces at Juno Beach in France. From there they moved northward, through France to Belgium and Antwerp, eventually into Holland. That winter was tough for the soldiers, but especially for the Dutch. In January of 1945 the 19th Army Field Regiment gathered near Groesbeek, Holland, preparing for a push into Germany. On February 27th Colin Soule was badly wounded in Germany by a mortar shell and died while being taken to a casualty clearing station. He was initially buried in a temporary grave near Kalkar, Germany, and later moved to a permanent location in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. The grave reference is: XXIV.B.8.

Colin Soule was awarded the following medals for his service: 1939-45 Star France - Germany Star Defence Medal War Medal Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp.

Biography by Colin's son, John (Jack) Harold Colin Soule, residing in Bath, Ontario, utilizing service records and family information. Jack has visited the Groesbeek Cemetery on numerous occasions – first as a high school student, on a side trip, while attending a YMCA World Youth Conference in Hilversum; later on a personal visit; next in 1993 to take his Mother to visit the gravesite for her first time; then in 1994, after attending the D-Day 50th Anniversary ceremonies at Juno Beach; next in 1995, as part of the “Welcome Again Veterans” program, marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation; then again in 2005, for a repeat with the 60th Anniversary program.