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Heaps family
- Accession Number
- 2014-8-8
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2014-8-8
- Material Format
- textual record
- graphic material
- Physical Description
- 1 folder textual records
- 2 photographs: b&w ; 13 cm x 8 cm & 9 cm x 6 cm
- Date
- 1932-1945
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of records documenting the military careers of David Heaps, and the political and personal items of his father, Abraham Albert Heaps. Items related to David and Heaps include military currency, guidebooks and telegrams, and 2 unidentified photographs. Items related to Abraham Albert Heaps include Abraham's business cards and postcards from abroad.
- Administrative History
- David Heaps was born in Winnipeg in 1916 to A.A. Heaps and Bessie Heaps (nee Morris). He attended the University of Manitoba, University of Southern California and the Ecole Libre de Sciences Politiques in Paris. He worked as a journalist prior to enlisting in the Canadian army in 1942. In 1943, he was promoted to Sergeant and served in the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in the Allied Expeditionary Force. He was the only soldier in his regiment to serve for the entire European campaign, and fought at Caen, Channel Ports, Brussels, Antwerp, Falaise Gap, the Schelde and the final campaigns in Holland and Northern Germany. Heaps was awarded the Royal Military Cross, and his brother Leo also achieved the same distinction, thereby making David and Leo the only Jewish brothers during the Second World War to win the decoration.
- Abraham Albert Heaps (1885-1954), known as A. A. Heaps, was a founder of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the forerunner of the New Democratic Party. He was arrested for his involvement in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, but late acquitted of all charges. He began his political career as an alderman and member of the Trade Union Council and later was elected to the federal House of Commons representing Winnipeg North. He fought against antisemitism and quotas and advocated for the acceptance of Jewish refugees in Canada. He was defeated in 1940 and retired from public life and lived the rest of his days in Montreal.
- Source
- Archival Accessions