Heavy toll of R.H.L.I. at Dieppe

Newspaper Name: The Hamilton Spectator
Province: Ontario
Town(s) Served: Hamilton, Burlington, Niagara
Published: 08/21/1942
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The Dieppe raid strikes a deep chord in Canadian history and especially in Hamilton. Nearly 5,000 Canadians along with British commandos and a few American Rangers went ashore. Two-thirds were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. More than 80 per cent of the dead -- 907 -- were Canadian, and nearly one in four wore the gold and blue patch of Hamilton's Royal Hamilton Light Infantry.
Hamilton's loss was devastating: It seemed everyone had lost a relative or friend to the raid or knew of someone killed or wounded. Initial reports proclaimed the raid, but by Friday's edition's more information was available and The Hamilton Spectator, began the grim task of counting the human cost. Witnesses report that women wept as extras announcing war casualties were posted in front of the paper's King Street East offices.
Page seven was entirely given over to cataloguing the dead and wounded. The Spectator, after clamouring for two years about getting the local boys into action, was suddenly faced with the barbaric reality of war -- that young men die. Sixteen photographs of fresh-faced soldiers -- killed or missing in action -- stared out from the page.