Hamilton has lost a last living link to one of Canada’s biggest tragedies of the Second World War.

Ken Curry, 97, died Friday, nearly 78 years after he stormed the beach at German-held Dieppe as part of a Royal Hamilton Light Infantry regiment of more than 580 soldiers. The Rileys, as they are known, were part of a larger force of 6,000 mostly Canadian troops that took part.

A total of 197 RHLI soldiers were killed and 174 were captured with Curry among them. He became a prisoner of war until being liberated by Allied forces in May, 1945.

Over the decades that followed, the ranks of Dieppe survivors steadily declined.

Each year, fewer of the veterans attended annual commemorations of the Aug. 19, 1942 raid at the Dieppe Veterans’ Memorial Park on the Beach Strip in Hamilton. It reached a point that Curry became the last known survivor and, despite poor health, he managed to travel from his home in Victoria B.C. to the ceremony last summer.

It was a grueling journey for him, requiring flight attendants on the plane to give him oxygen because he had difficulty breathing. After he landed, he was rushed to Juravinski Hospital to be checked over. But he was released shortly after and he made it to the ceremony as the guest of honour, sitting in the front row in a wheelchair.

“I have one foot in the grave ... but, oh man, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” he told The Spectator.

The night before, he was also able to attend a candlelight service organized by the North Wall Riders Association, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who devote themselves to helping veterans.

RHLI Honorary Colonel Don Cranston says “the trip to Hamilton nearly killed him. But he was determined to be there.”

“After he made it back to Victoria, they took him right to the hospital again and we knew there wasn’t much time left for him.”

But he was released after being treated for lung congestion. And after a period of time living at home with his common-law wife Pat Dunbar, he moved to a long term care facility for veterans in Victoria. Over the past several weeks the facility stopped allowing visitors because of concerns over COVID-19.

But daughter Lillian Luyk says that since Sunday, because it was clear that Curry would not live much longer, family members were allowed to make once-a-day visits. She says each day since then she spent a couple of hours with him.

At 6:45 a.m. Friday she received a call that her dad had died. COVID-19 is not believed to be a factor in his death, Luyk says.

Curry grew up in Hamilton, joining the RHLI in 1937. He was sent overseas three years later.

After landing in Dieppe in August 1942, he found himself facing a hail of gunfire from the German positions with many around him being killed or wounded. For a time he helped a sergeant who had been shot and then after an order to withdraw he got onto a boat.

But the boat was sunk by enemy fire and he ended up back on the beach where he was captured.

Curry was proud of his service with the Rileys but felt the raid was an ill-conceived, disastrous waste of life that killed more than 900. Unlike some military historians, he did not believe the experience was of benefit to the planners of D-Day two years later.

“No, I don’t buy it (that it helped with the Normandy invasion),” he said in a 2019 interview. “We were wasted there. It was like walking into a bloody hailstorm. There were guys laying all around us, screaming, wounded.”

After the war, he returned to Hamilton and worked as an electrician for Stelco among other places. He was also a volunteer firefighter in Stoney Creek. He retired in the 1980s and moved to British Columbia with his wife Norma to be closer to family.

Norma, who served Second World War Royal Air Force during the war, died in 2016 after 73 years of marriage.

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Cranston says the loss of Curry is the end of era for the RHLI. Not only is he the last of Riley Dieppe veterans but “Ken may be our last World War II veteran as well,” says Cranston.

“What those guys went through, is something none of us can relate to today. It’s very sad to see that generation go.”

The RHLI plan to a host a memorial service for Curry once public health concerns about COVID-19 subside.