Vollett, Frederick Leslie

The life of Pte. Frederick Leslie Vollett closely followed the pattern of his brother's, Cpl. Douglas. A year after the latter entered the Canadian Army, so did Frederick, when he was little more than 17 years of age. Thus it was that their mother, Mrs. Viola Vollett, Harrisburg, not only saw her two sons leave their home in service for Canada, but she was to lose both of them through death while following the course of their duty. Pte. Frederick enlisted with the 1st Battalion, Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles, in 1941, and he was trained at Niagara-on-the-Lake and Nanaimo, and after a brief leave at home left in

June, 1943, for England. Later overseas he was transferred to the Royal Regiment of Canada. Again the brothers' lives came together when Cpl. Douglas obtained permission to have Pte. Frederick moved to his regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and with that unit the two men went into action in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. In August, Pte. Vollett suffered wounds and was removed to hospital in England. Later in the year, he returned to the front lines in Holland and continued there until he lost his life at Sonnesbick, Germany, on March 11, 1945, when a motor vehicle he was driving struck a buried mine. Born in Hamilton, January 17, 1924, Pte. Vollett attended the Harrisburg Public School. He was christened at the Harrisburg United Church and went to its Sunday School and Young People's Society. He played hockey with his brother in the St. George Junior League in 1938-39 and, like him, worked on farms in the community to gather some knowledge of agriculture.

Back to Search Results