Stump Hollow

In the months following the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942, the Essex Scottish Regiment regrouped in England and continued to train for future operations. While stationed in Walderchain Wood near Barham, Kent, in 1944, Lieutenant-Colonel MacDonald had the unit compete against each other in a friendly tournament to boost morale. The #5 Anti-Tank Platoon won the tournament, so a large concrete hat badge and two matching plaques were made to celebrate their victory. Their bivouac, known as Stump Hollow, was marked by these ornaments for the three months in which the Essex Scottish stayed at the camp. The Goddard family, who owned the property and had become endeared to the regiment, agreed to look after the prized possessions while the Essex Scottish had to “jump off for Normandy” in June 1944. The regiment had intended to bring the concrete relics back to Canada with them at the end of the war, but when that time came, the Essex Scottish were sent directly to Canada from the Netherlands, where they had been stationed to liberate the country from under German control.

It was at the edge of the Goddard property that the hat badge and plaques sat for forty years until it was discovered by cyclists of the Thanet Road Club in 1986. Having been notified of the artifacts, Corporal Ed Storey and Mr. Eric Bull assessed them and identified them as belonging to the Essex Scottish. After a failed attempt to get the badge and plaques patriated to Canada, the massive ornaments were held in Kent until 2002 when Laurence Goddard contacted Corporal Storey indicating his interest in sending the relics to Canada where they belonged. A crew was sent to the site in 2003 to plan the extraction, and the team was then informed that a metal detector had located other items at the site that should also be returned to the regiment. After a brief ceremony in its place of creation, the artifacts were finally brought back to Canada. The Goddard family was invited to attend the patriation ceremony in Canada, where they were able to meet the badge’s carver, Donald Elvy.