Remembering the Canadian soldiers who died on a mission of mercy at the close of the Second World War

A little more than 12 hours before the end of the Second World War in Europe, a young Canadian padre, accompanied by an equally young tank commander, set off into the cool, rainy countryside of northern Germany on an errand of mercy.

Or so they thought.

Honorary Capt. Albert McCreery and Lt. Norman Goldie had only been with the Canadian Grenadier Guards tank regiment for less than a month.

It was May 4, 1945.

Adolf Hitler's Third Reich was in its final hours and Nazi soldiers alternated between fighting to the death and surrendering.

The war diary of the guards regiment records heavy fighting that morning in the forests and laneways north of Oldenberg, including mention of Goldie's troop of tanks being held in reserve in case the defending Germans advanced.

Canadian combat chaplains, throughout the war in Europe, found steady employment outfitting jeeps with stretchers and rescuing disabled tank crews.

It was from German prisoners that McCreery learned about possibly wounded enemy soldiers in need of aid and comfort — or so he was told.

In hindsight of history, it was a typically Canadian thing to do.

An account, quoting former guards regiment soldiers published decades after the war, quoted one of them as being skeptical of McCreery's plan, mostly because nobody knew where the wounded enemy could be found

Regardless, at 3 p.m. on the last full day of fighting, McCreery and Goldie set off to bring in the wounded Germans.

They never returned.

Phil Ralph, a former Canadian military chaplain, said he's haunted by the story.

"His mission is to care for all. And, so he does, a marvellous and unselfish act," Ralph said, referring to McCreery.