How a Second World War soldier's biography spanned generations between kindred spirits

Alex Landine never met his great-uncle, Harland, but he feels they would have been close friends.

Sgt. Harland Arthur Steeves grew up in Moncton during the Great Depression as the oldest of four children.

When war was declared in 1939, a 20-year-old Harland enlisted with the New Brunswick Rangers. He rose through the ranks as a rifleman, and was part of the Allied campaign in Normandy.

He was killed in action on Aug. 10, 1944. He was 24.

Now 24 himself, Landine remembers hearing about his great-uncle from his grandfather, but he never knew the details until now. 

Landine has just returned from a two-week program in France offered by the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick.

War and the Canadian Experience in France & Flanders is a study tour for teachers and education students to help them learn to use the First and Second World Wars as subjects to encourage critical thinking and immersive history education with their students back home.

Landine graduated from UNB's education program last year and is working in a different field, but through his research, he's been able to build a connection to a relative he never had the chance to meet.

"He was very artistic. He really liked to draw," Landine said. "We actually have his, like, wooden drawing board at my house that he used to do his sketches on."

Landine's grandfather, Lawrence, gave him Harland's Kodak camera that he bought in 1939 before he went away to war. Landine keeps it on his bedside table.

"I've always loved art and photography and … I wish I could have met him for a lot of reasons. But even just the thought of having this sort of artistic person in the family who, I bet, we would have shared a lot of things in common."

Landine based his research on records his grandfather kept — personnel files, old letters, photos, telegrams and memories. Two days before he left for France, he sat down with his grandfather to fill in the gaps.

"My grandfather started tearing up right away when he was telling me [how Harland died] and … it was 75 years ago this year," he said.

Lawrence was 13 and had gone to visit a friend one evening when he saw his father coming up the street. His first thought was that he was in trouble for forgetting to do a chore.

"His father had tears in his eyes and said, 'We just found out that your brother's been killed and your mother wants you to come home.' And Grampie said that's the first time that he ever saw his father cry."

Harland was killed in action by a shell. A letter from W. C. Alward, a member of the New Brunswick Rangers, to Harland's 20-year-old widow, Doris Steeves, describes an impromptu burial on Hill 195 amid shellfire.

"Your husband was in charge of a number of men and during the battle a shell landed very near to him and killed him almost instantly," the letter reads.

"I was not there just at the time but arrived shortly after he died. I was with my other sergeant at the time of the accident. We buried your husband on Hill 195 just where he was killed. As you know we cannot always have a minister with us in the front lines, so it was my duty to see that he was buried. It was not an easy task Mrs. Steeves, and it was very hard for me to read. But I did read one chapter [Romans Chapter 8], stood by his grave amid some shellfire while the rest of the men stood with their steel helmets off. In our own humble way we laid him to rest."

In 1946, Harland's body was moved and reburied at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, which Landine visited on his trip.

"I just turned 24 this spring and that's how old he was when he was killed. So it hit me," Landine said.

Landine presented the biography he had prepared to his group, sharing with them what he had learned about his great-uncle's life before and during the war.

"After it was done and everybody left I sat there by myself for a while and cried a bit and reflected, and I just kind of felt like I was sitting there with him."

Landine's grandfather told him Harland's closest confidant was their sister, Isabelle, who was just one year younger than Harland.

In one letter he wrote her during the war, he shares with her his thoughts about the possibility of death.

"This is very hard to explain because I never got very sentimental with you or anyone in the family before. But you're the only one that will understand. To begin with, I'm not in the army for a picnic. That isn't what I joined for. I joined to fight. And before long now I know that is just what I will be doing.

"But what I'm trying to tell you is that I might not come out of it. I know you'll keep it to yourself and not tell Doris or mother. I'm not afraid just yet. I don't know how I will feel when the time comes but I will still go if it is my finish. I have only one regret and that is being separated from Doris and I know that mother will take it quite hard. I know I haven't been as good living and I've done lots of things I've been ashamed of. I never joined your church like I should have. But if something is going to happen to me now I can go with the feeling that I've done something worthwhile."

Landine knew his great-aunt, but never thought to ask her about Harlan. His great-aunt died in 2010.

One thing he does know is that Harland loved his family. A letter to Isabelle gives another glimpse into how close they were.

"There is another thing, make sure they take good care of Lawrence. Make him study and go as far as he can in school and if possible college, because I would like to see him the best man in our whole family."