Alyre Gallant was born December 23, 1923, in Piusville, Prince Edward Island. He grew up during the time of the Depression, and when his father died when he was quite young, Alyre left school and began working on the family farm. And that was the theme for the rest of the decade and into the war; Alyre worked on a succession of farms, including one near Charlottetown that belonged to a man who was an officer in the army. That officer assembled a local regiment, the Prince Edward Island Light Horse, and he asked Alyre to join. Alyre said yes, and his military career was underway. He went through training at Camp Borden, and was shipped over to England. Alyre was in the armoured corps, training in a Sherman tank. Soon enough he was sent to France, and his year of com bat began. Alyre made his way through the Battle of Normandy, now part of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, and on to Belgium and the Netherlands. At war’s end Alyre returned to Canada with his new wife, settling first in P.E.I., and later relocating to Toronto. Together they settled into the rhythms of postwar Canadian life, raising a family and leaving the war behind.
Alyre was interviewed for this project in September 2019, when Scott Masters visited him at his home in Toronto.
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