John Honsberger was born February 6, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario.  He grew up in different neighbourhoods in the city and he attended the University of Toronto Schools – and that is where he was when the war broke out.  His father encouraged him to graduate before enlisting – and even then he wanted his son to start university so that he would have something to come home to.  John listened, and he completed six months at Victoria College in Toronto, enlisting just as he turned 19.  He went off to Brockville for officer training at the urging of an officer in his reserve regiment, and then additional training followed in Brandon and Shilo.  He was promoted to lieutenant and put on a troop train, bound for Halifax and the troop ship, which turned out to be the Queen Mary.  They crossed the Atlantic without incident and disembarked at Gourock, Scotland, then heading south to England via train.  They continued their training, knowing the Second Front was on the way.  John was in the 4th Division (3rd Regiment, 2nd Battery), and in that capacity it was his role to follow the advancing infantry regiments and to provide fire missions whenever called upon:  that included John’s time with the antitank battery, where they would take on German armour up close.  A junior officer, he frequently did recce patrols to find the best spots to locate the artillery as they advanced from France to Germany.  Along the way they liberated villages and towns in Belgium and Holland, and John recalls here the winter spent in Holland, and especially a Christmas celebration put on for the local children.  The spring saw the advance recommence as they went into the Reichswald Forest and prepared to cross the Rhine, which they did on a Bailey bridge.  After Holland, John was one of the first Canadian soldiers to arrive in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, as he was sent as a scout to find a place for them to leave their vehicles.  That area on the Dutch-German border is where John’s war came to an end, with him having the rank of captain and not yet 23 years old.  Soon enough he was on his way back home, where marriage and family and a career in law awaited him.  John Honsberger was interviewed by Scott Masters and Zach Dunn at the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing in June 2025.