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SARNIA REMEMBERS: Barclay Drive honours a fallen soldier

As part of our Sarnia Remembers series — now in its ninth year — The Journal is publishing a series of stories honouring veterans and fallen soldiers from Sarnia-Lambton.
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Pvt. Jim Barclay, Can. Army, RCASC

In May 1994, when it came time to name the short street that connected Exmouth Street to Quinn Drive, city council chose to name it for a fallen soldier.  Barclay Drive honours Private Jim Barclay, a 20-year-old soldier who lost his life in 1943 during World War II.  

Unfortunately, we know little about Jim beyond a few facts.

He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on July 5, 1923, the second son of John and Ann Barclay. John, Ann, and their two boys, Alex and Jim, immigrated to Canada in the 1920s and the Barclays lived on Campbell Street, very close to the Canadian National Railway where John worked to support his family.

After attending Johnston Memorial (now P.E. McGibbon School) and Russell Street Public

School (site of the current Lions Park), Jim quit school at age 15.  He worked on farms for a time and then found employment as a labourer at the CNR in Sarnia for three years. Possibly influenced by Alex's decision to enlist in 1940, Jim decided to join his older brother in the military on November 7, 1941. CNR management promised to hold a position for him when he returned and this suited Jim--his postwar aspirations were to be a mechanic with the CNR.

Jim arrived overseas in early January 1943. At one time, the two Barclay brothers, both in the army, were stationed only four miles apart for six months. Alex was a gunner with the Royal Canadian Artillery and Jim was a private with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC). On one occasion, they were even able to spend two days together.  

With both their boys serving overseas, John and Ann got on with their lives in Sarnia and prayed for their sons.

The two telegrams they received in late September 1943 changed their lives forever.

On Monday, September 26, the first telegram arrived from the Director of Records in Ottawa: SINCERELY REGRET INFORM YOU A9908 PRIVATE JAMES BARCLAY

OFFICIALLY REPORTED DANGEROUSLY ILL AS RESULT SEVERE CRANIAL CEREBRAL INJURY DUE TO MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT ON DUTY STOP FURTHER INFORMATION FOLLOWS WHEN RECEIVED.

The following day, they received a second telegram with more devastating news:  REGRET DEEPLY A9908 PRIVATE JAMES BARCLAY NOW OFFICIALLY REPORTED DIED TWENTYSEVENTH SEPTEMBER 1943 STOP FURTHER INFORMATION FOLLOWS WHEN RECEIVED.

They heard nothing else about Jim's death until a few days later. Another telegram stated that Jim had died in an army hospital on September 27, the result of “a severe cranial cerebral injury due to a motorcycle accident.”

The Barclays still received no other details as to how or where the accident occurred. Nor were they given any word about Jim's funeral. John and Ann hoped at least that Alex would be able to attend his brother's funeral services in England. 

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John (father) with sons Jim (middle) and Alex

Only a short time later did John and Ann, through a court inquiry into the accident, learn what had happened to Jim. On Monday morning, September 26, both Jim and his fellow soldier, a Pte. Mallette, had been on duty and each had been riding a motorcycle.  The two soldiers had been travelling through Tadworth, a suburb of Surrey, England, when the stretch of road ahead of them curved.  As they rounded the curve, both motorcycles collided head on with a three-ton lorry that had been on the same road and had been negotiating the same curve from the opposite direction. 

Pte. Mallette was seriously injured but survived. Jim was not as fortunate.  His injuries included a fractured skull and laceration of the brain, and the following morning he passed away at approximately 0955 hours at a Canadian neurological hospital.  The inquiry concluded that the excessive speed the two soldiers were travelling caused the accident, but that the accident was not due to willful misconduct on the part of Pte. Barclay and Pte. Mallette.

Twenty-year-old Jim Barclay is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, United Kingdom, Grave 45.J.10. On his headstone are inscribed the words AT PEACE IN JESUS’ ARMS SAFE AND SECURE FROM ALL HARMS.  

Jim was awarded the Defence Medal; the War Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp. 

After the war when Alex returned safely to Sarnia, his parents and he rarely mentioned Jim. As the years passed, Morven Barclay, Alex's son, often asked his dad and his grandparents about his Uncle Jim, but “they never said anything about him. My dad didn't even speak about the war at all. After a while, I just gave up . . . it must have been too painful for them.”

But that didn't mean they weren't thinking of their beloved son and brother. Every November 11, Ann and Alex laid a wreath at the foot of the Sarnia cenotaph.

One year after Jim's death, this In Memoriam was printed in a local paper: In loving memory of our dear son and brother, Pte. James Barclay, who died in England one year ago today, September 27, 1943.

Had he asked us, well we know

We should cry “O spare this blow.”

Yes, with streaming tears should pray;

“Lord, we love him; let him stay.”

Sadly missed by Father, Mother and brother Alex (overseas) 

Fifty years later, Mayor Bradley received a note after the street-naming ceremony from a member of the Barclay family. In part it reads that John and Ann Barclay “would have been deeply touched had they been witness to this commemorative recognition of Jim’s supreme sacrifice, so that we may all have the benefits of God’s providence in a hoped for peaceful world. Thank you all!”

 


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