Although it has now been more than 75 years since the end of the Second World War, it is still important to commemorate all Allies who were involved the fighting around Goirle in the Netherlands. These victims of Goirle are people who fought with comrades for our freedom in and around Goirle during the Second World War. They died as a result of acts of war. G. Kobes wrote in 2016: "I would like to remind you of the casualties suffered by the Allied forces. To the young men who, far from their homeland, had to pay with their lives for the fight for our freedom. The price is unimaginably high, there is an empty place in millions of families." They, along with many others, gave their lives for our freedom!!

B/114792 Trooper John King McGuire of the 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) is one of them. He died on 5 October 1944 at the age of 37.

John King McGuire was born on Saturday, March 16, 1907 in Quill Lake, in Canada, son of Thomas King McGuire and Ethel Mary McGuire. He was survived by his parents, wife and five children.

What happened? At 9am, A Squadron of the 27th Armoured Regiment left Poppel, in Belgium, with their Sherman tanks for Goirle with the support of infantry and scouts. Around 1pm, the Vonderse bridge over the Leij at Buitenlust was reached. "The intention was to advance directly to Goirle by road, which initially went well. However, near a burning house about 1000 yards in front of our objective, the tanks of Sergeant Michaud and Lieutenant Marshall were hit by a bazooka as they were about to cross a bridge." The crew of Sergeant Michaud's tank came under fire on leaving the tank, with the exception of Tpr. Whitney, who had not left the tank. Sgt. Michaud was badly wounded behind his tank. Tpr. McGuire fell into the mud with a leg wound and, despite first aid, his last words were "Goodbye". Trump. Smith was able to escape, but Trump. Cheeseman was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

The enemy's infantry attacked, but The Lincolns held out. 2 Troop was sent out to support B Company, which had broken out on the left. Sergeant Cuddie's and Corporal Spence's tanks went to flank with Ltn. Butler and then Corporal Spence's tank was hit by a large caliber gun. The crew jumped out but they were also fired upon. Tpr. Brazier and Cpl. Spence were killed, Coomer and Giovannetti were wounded. "We had to hold this position from higher up until further notice, so we fired from our right flank to prevent infiltration of the enemy. Then the message came from higher up and the squadron (5 tanks) withdrew, under cover of darkness, to our headquarters in Poppel...." Frightened by the rapid advance of the Allies, the Germans had quickly sent a battalion of "Chill" to Buitenlust. Four German tanks knocked out the Canadian tanks.

John McGuire was first buried in a field grave at the house "Buitenlust" on the Poppelseweg in Goirle, together with 9 others who lost their lives at that time. The following were also killed in this attack: Austin Brazier (20), Richard Whitney (32), John Spence (23) and Bert Michaud (26).

On Saturday 20 January 1945 John McGuire and a number of others were transferred to the Canadian War Cemetery in Bergen op Zoom (GPS coordinates: Latitude: 51.50158, Longitude: 4.33052). His grave location is 12. E. 2 and his headstone includes the personal inscription: ”May the future world benefit through his efforts and sacrifice''

Commemorations: * https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2642019/john-king-mcguire/ * https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/12724611/john-king-mcguire * https://www.online-begraafplaatsen.nl/zerken.asp?command=showgraf&bgp=3017&grafid=1669085&char=M Sources: Research : G. Cobes and G. v.d. Klundert-Bertens