CARLYLE - As you drive around Carlyle, you may have noticed that there seems to be a lot of memorial banners this year.
The Carlyle branch of the Royal Canadian Legion is pleased that members of the Carlyle community have taken this project to heart and that, as of this year, we have 77 memorial banners to display in our community. Many thanks to the member of Carlyle’s maintenance crew who worked so diligently to hang all these banners.
One very interesting banner is hung in front of the Royal Bank and is for someone who many in Carlyle may remember, Eliza Beatty. In 1979 Mrs Beatty was honoured in her 88th year as Canada’s Silver Cross Mother. The Memorial Cross (referred to as the Silver Cross) is awarded to mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers who died on active duty or whose death was attributed to that duty. In Beatty’s case, of her seven children – four boys and three girls – three of the boys fought in the Second World War.
We have to remember that the world in 1939-1945 was very unlike the one in which we live today. There was no instant communication, texting or email, such as we have now. During the Second World War, any communication received from loved ones was a letter, handwritten, and if it was not censored or confiscated for security reasons, it was delivered by the post office.
From the time her three sons left home until they returned, or more horribly, a letter or a telegram arrived reporting on their being wounded or worse, every letter would have been opened with trepidation. Unfortunately, the letter that was feared did come to Walter and Eliza Beatty following the failure of the Dieppe Raid which occurred Aug. 19, 1942.
In that failed invasion, in excess of 900 Canadian ground forces died, including Walter and Eliza’s sons Melville and Earl Beatty, 22 and 21 years old respectively. They also received a letter of the wounding of their third son Reginald.
The fear and dread that Eliza Beatty underwent throughout those years must have been horrendous, knowing that her children were at risk, and the finality of their loss must have been overwhelming.
Beatty was honoured, for her sacrifice in 1979 by being appointed as the Silver Cross Mother for that year, and both the sons who died in the Second World War, Walter and Melville, were honoured posthumously by having geological features in northern Saskatchewan named for them. These honours are significant, but the sacrifices of all the Beattys, Earl, Melville and Reginald, and at home, Walter and Eliza, must be remembered and appreciated.
The Carlyle legion, and Nedra Clark, would like to thank Judy McArthur of Brandon for bringing her grandmother Eliza Beatty’s documentation to our attention and allowing us to review it. Prairie Trails to Blacktop, Carlyle and District, 1882 to 1982 also has an interesting article from Beatty discussing her life as well.
