Sergeant John “Jack” Mathes
Jack was a veteran of the Canadian Army during World War 2. When he came back from the 2nd World War, Jack first worked at the Hamilton Street Railway (H.S.R.), as a driver. He had been a tank driver in the war. He eventually joined the Hamilton Police Service. Now deceased, Police Retiree Jack Mathes was a well-known Detective in the 50’s and 60’s. He is remembered fondly by retirees Chick Evans and Mike Campbell. Chick Evans recalls that Jack was originally in what was called the Morality Squad. Later he was assigned to the General Detective Squad. Finally he was assigned to operate the Front Desk at the Criminal Investigative Division (C.I.D.) and he retired from that post.
Mike Campbell remembers that after his dad passed away, Jack and his wife were very good to Mike. He had a cottage at the French River, and that was how he came to purchase a cottage there also. Mike spent quite a bit of time with Jack and his wife Alice, and so he heard the “War” stories repeatedly. Mike remembers that Jack told him many stories from the Second World War where Jack served as a Sherman Tank driver. Jack retired from the Police with the rank of Sergeant. He spent his last years working the Control Desk of the Criminal Investigation Division (C.I.D.) in the old Central Station. He would always answer the telephone with “Detectives, Mathes”. He retired around 1975.
John was one of the few people who would talk about some of his war experiences, partly because he lost several friends in the fighting.
During the “staging” for D-Day he was stationed in England. He was the driver of a 5-man crew that operated a Sherman Tank. By the time that D-Day had arrived, they were aware that their tank was inadequate compared to the firepower that existed in the enemy tanks.
At that time, smoking was considered normal and was advertised freely. The primary cigarette lighter in Britain was called the Ronson lighter. The advertising slogan for the Ronson lighter was “lights first time, lights every time”. A good thing for a lighter. The men of the Canadian Army called the Sherman tank – “the Ronson”.
Prior to the attack, they had to waterproof the tank. It had a large canvas skirt that came up around it. There was a snorkel that took in air for the engine. He was required to coat his engine with grease and test drive it into the English Channel and back out again to be certain that it was sufficiently waterproofed.
The Staff Sergeant in charge told him that if the tank stalled out, he would be the one required to wade in, swim to the tank and attach a chain to allow for a tow to safety.
On D-Day, when he arrived on Juno beach, he was driving the tank out of the landing craft, into the water and then up the beach. He had a narrow slit to look from and as far as he could see in either direction, he was the first tank on the beach. They had incurred a problem in the rough water travelling across the English Channel. For some reason, the turret would not rotate. They could still change the elevation on the gun, but they could not move it towards left or right. Therefore, in order to aim, he had to swivel the entire tank by rotating with the tracks.
Initially they moved towards a large rock where the tank could find some protection from the larger guns. (The German guns were still operating, since the naval and aerial bombardment had been ineffective.)
They were trying to get a shell into a large pillbox but as the tank rotated, it began to bury it’s tracks in the sand on the beach. They must not have been too far from the water, because as the battle continued, the tide began to rise and wash in sand, until the tank got stuck. Someone had to get out and shovel out the track, for the tank to be able to function. They drew straws, and they somehow set it up to cause the dumbest person in the crew to draw the short straw. So, the guy went out, and started to shovel. But initially, with the waves, he was not making much progress until a bullet ricocheted off the back of the shovel, then he worked faster.
He recalled another event later. He was out in the open in a large battle when planes came overhead and began to drop bombs. He said that when the bombs came tumbling out, it was just like a box of cigars being spilled, until they straightened up. When you looked up at them, “every one of the bombs looked like it was coming right for you”. He said that most of his regiment was killed by friendly fire during one large engagement as they crossed through France. They were bombed by the Allied Air Force.
He was mentioned in the dispatches for his actions in another event. He rescued a large .88 calibre mobile gun (operated from a truck). It was in the middle of the battle and had been abandoned. The Germans were sighting in on it with a mortar in an attempt to destroy it. He ran out into the kill-zone to get the gun and drive it out of the range of fire, so they could use it later in the day.
In 1952 Jack and another officer were driving a uniform cruiser at Main & Wentworth when he collided with a plain-door Police car, at high speed and with no seat belts. All four officers were badly injured and this is a picture of Jack receiving First Aid at the scene.
Jack Mathes is the player on the right about to take
a dropped puck during a Charity Hockey Game in 1954.
By Dave Bowen, Retired Inspector, Hamilton Police Service