We regret to advise of the death of Major Harold Norman “Andy” Andrews, DFM and Bar, on 2 September 2000 at the age of 80 years.
Andy was originally a member of the Royal Engineers, joining the 222nd Field Company in September 1939. He was evacuated from Dunkirk, France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in June 1940. Re-assigned to the 15th Field Park Company in January 1942, he transferred to the Army Air Corps in January 1942. In September, he transferred to the Glider Pilot Regiment and is believed to be one of only four glider pilots who survived all four main glider operations of the Second World War in Europe.
Andy was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for "exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy" for his courage and precision flying in the invasion of Sicily in 1943. He then participated in the 6th Airborne Division D-Day landings. His third major operation was Operation MARKET GARDEN in Arnhem in Holland where he received a Bar to his DFM for his skilled and courageous flying into the landing zone. His last major operation was supporting the capture of bridges over the River Ijssel near Hamminkeln in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany where his glider disintegrated on landing but none of the troops were seriously hurt. Interestingly, during the Normandy Invasion, Andy's glider carried elements of the 3rd Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division which included the 1st Canadian Parachute Company.
After the war, Andy completed his engineering studies and immigrated to Canada in 1953. He was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Engineers where he served in various appointments at RCSME in Camp Chilliwack, 12 Works Company, Regina; 2 Field Squadron in Camp Gagetown; and back to RCSME. In 1967, Andy was the Canadian Forces Liason to the Winnipeg Pan-American Games.
Andy was one of the first RCE officers to complete the Light Aircraft Pilot Course in the 1950s and carried on with the Continuation Flying Program at Camp Shilo, MB from 1956 until 1959. While he never flew in an operational capacity as an RCE officer, he continued to fly until 1965 when the helicopter he was flying went down in a snowstorm. At that time, Andy decided his luck had run out and he never flew again.
After leaving the Army, Andy worked at Douglas College in New Westminster from 1972 until 1984 as Vice-Principal of the McBride Campus and Director of Program Planning and Development. He started working from a construction trailer on the site and saw the project through to completion. On his death, his family endowed the Andy and Helen Andrews Memorial Award providing financial assistance to students demonstrating significant athletic achievement in combination with outstanding academic performance. {dcMar2016kh}
