A Second World War veteran who was the Canadian Army's longest-serving officer has died.
The Royal Montreal Regiment announced that Honorary Col. David Lloyd Hart died last Wednesday at the age of 101.
Hart enlisted in the reserves in 1937 with the Fourth Signal Regiment and was called to active duty in 1939.
He went on to receive a military medal for bravery for his actions during the ill-fated Allied raid on Dieppe in 1942, when he insisted on briefly going off air to locate two brigades and pass on an order to withdraw.
"He set an example to everyone in the unit to always look on the positive side," said Serge Dube, Sergeant, 34th Signal Regiment Westmount. "You've gone through hardship, there's got to be light at the end of the tunnel and for us it was Colonel Hart."
Hart joined the army at a time when very few soldiers were Jewish.
"He did so single-handedly, unknowingly, fought antisemetism in the forces all these years by proving that the Jewish boy he was could do better than anybody else," said former Westmount mayor Peter Trent.
Hart, the former communications operator, told The Canadian Press in 2017 that he still rememered every detail of the chaotic scene on the beach that day, which would prove to be the single bloodiest for Canada's military in the entire Second World War.
Hart went on to serve in various honorary positions after leaving active duty, and remained involved in the military community right up until his death.
With files from CTV Montreal
