Doidge, Ernest Earl

Ernest Earl Doidge
	8 December 1917 – 4 February 2008
	;
Place of birth	Toronto, Ontario
Place of death	London, Ontario
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	Canadian Army
Rank	Major

Major Ernest Earl Doidge (8 December 1917 - 4 February 2008) was a Canadian soldier and member of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals who saw service in Korea and Egypt.

Early Life

Ernest Doidge was born and raised in Toronto Ontario. He married Ellen Maude Brown in June of 1942 and together they raised five children; John, Bryan, Barbara, Jennifer and Trish.

Service

Still living in Toronto, Ernest joined the Army. During his career he was posted to Ottawa, Kingston, Gagetown New Brunswick and finally, in 1960, to Edmonton Alberta.

As a Captain, while serving in Korea with the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and was Mentioned in Despatches^[1]. Later, as a Major, he served in Egypt deploying as the Officer in Charge of the Advance party for 56 Canadian Signal Squadron^[2].

He retired from the Army with the rank of Major and over 24 years of service while he was second in command at Griesbach in 1966.

Retirement Years

After retirement, he attended George Brown College and became a teacher of Electricity and Electronics in Fergus Ontario.

He died peacefully at McCormick Home, London on 4 February 2008 in his 91st year and was buried at Toronto Necropolis Cemetery^[3].

Music

He was an avid musician (clarinet) and would often find a way of getting a little band going or just a jam session. His musical hero was, of course, Benny Goodman - so whenever he sent pictures of himself playing the clarinet, he would refer to himself as "Benny".^[4].