“A Very Ordinary Piece of Work”

John Weir Foote was an unlikely war hero, there was no disputing that.  John was born in Madoc Ontario in 1904, and had recently been ordained as a Presbyterian minister after several years of  university education that followed a stint of working in his father-in-law’s hardware store when, in 1939, as the Second World War broke out, he enlisted in the Canadian Chaplain Service. He was attached to the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry as their Regimental Chaplain and given the Honorary rank of Captain.  John was 35 years old at the time.  He went overseas with the regiment and was with them as they trained and fought. 

The regiment found themselves training for a secret mission and once “Operation Jubilee” was ready to be launched, the RHLI was included among the ranks of 5000 Canadian soldiers, 1000 British soldiers, and 50 American Rangers who were sent from England to re-capture the German held French town of Dieppe.  The secret nighttime mission of landing troops on the beaches of Dieppe—if one can possibly think that landing over 6000 soldiers from 237 boats that were being covered by 74 squadrons of fighter planes, could be done secretly—was blown when the approaching boats met up with a small random German convoy and a skirmish followed. 

With the Germans back in Dieppe now alerted to the approaching enemy, their heavily armed troops were positioned along the top of the long imposing cliff that rose up from the beach, some finding vantage points in the natural caves formed in the wall of the cliff, and had time to call in their own squadrons of fighter planes for back up.  It was like shooting fish in a barrel by the time the Allies arrived to unload onto a beach that offered no cover. 

Padre Foote had not been invited to come along on this mission, but he felt that he could offer support to his regiment and was eventually granted permission to move out along with the rest.  He was to be under the orders of the Regimental Medical Officer, acting as an assistant and stretcher-bearer at the Regimental Aid Post that would be set up on-site.  In the madness of landing in full view of the enemy, that Regimental Aid Post could only find a depression in the sand on the beach where the wounded could be taken and first aid administered while they awaited a landing craft to evacuate them, and only those who were laying down were completely protected from enemy fire. 

John Foote worked tirelessly to ease the suffering of the wounded in any way he could, and he didn’t do it from the shelter of the Aid Post.  He was a big and burly man at 6’3” and for the estimated 8 hours that the ill-fated assault raged before the Allies called for a retreat, he was seen continually striding across the open beach, through the fire storm of bullets and bombs, moving among the wounded, administering morphine to some and first aid to others, encouraging those who were wounded as well as those who were not, giving comfort to the dying, and carrying what wounded that he could back to the Aid Post.  With the receding tide, a stranded landing craft presented itself and offered more shelter, so the wounded were able to be moved off the exposed beach to the cover of the craft.  John carried most of them.   

Finally, when the order was given to evacuate the beach, the landing craft arrived that would carry the wounded to safety and, under very heavy fire, Captain John Foote loaded the soldiers onto it and then made the trip back and forth to the beach in order to get as many others to safety as possible. 

Clearly, it was time for the landing craft to make its escape and although Padre Foote had been given several opportunities to climb on board, he refused and continued in his work.  When the final call for him to get on board was issued, he refused the order.  It was obvious that the soldiers who were not able to evacuate were to be taken as prisoners of war or killed by the Germans but John felt that his duty as a chaplain was to continue to minister, in whatever way he could, to the men he had spent the previous 3 years alongside. So, as he called over his shoulder that he would be defying that final order, he waded back to the beach one last time and allowed himself to be captured.

Along with 1,945 others. 

The prisoners taken at Dieppe were forced to march for 2 days to a detention camp inland.  John did it barefoot because he had taken off his heavy boots back at the beach as they were just slowing him down while he was trying to do his work among the wounded.  His feet were raw by the time they reached the camp. 

The Honorary Captain remained a prisoner of war for 3 years in various camps and was finally liberated, along with his fellow prisoners, by the British in April of 1945.  The man who had slung soldiers onto his back on the beaches of Dieppe and had carried them to safety, now weighed less than 140 pounds. 

For his heroic and inspiring example of unwavering courage under fire, John Weir Foote received the Victoria Cross, a medal given exclusively for acts of great valour, from King George VI himself.  During the Second World War, only 16 Victoria Crosses were given to Canadians who served.  Padre John Foote is the only Canadian chaplain to ever receive this honour.  He saved countless lives that day through his exceptional and selfless sense of duty to those around him. 

John would come back to Canada once the war was over and after an extended stint in the army, would go into politics and continue to serve his fellow Canadians in that manner until his retirement.  He passed away in Cobourg Ontario in 1988 at the age of 83, 2 years after the passing of Edith, his wife of 57 years.    

With regard to his extraordinary efforts on the beaches of Dieppe, John Weir Foote said, “I simply did my job as I saw it.  It was a very ordinary piece of work.”

That attitude inspires me, here in my peace-filled little life, so on November 11th, I will be remembering Honorary Captain John Foote of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry who, in the midst of situation brought about by an unfathomable escalation of fear and hate, used what skills he’d been given to do his humble best for those around him, at a time when they needed him the most.