By Phil Egan
Captain Justin Mallon thought his brother Gerald was still fighting in Italy. It was a surprise then when he saw something surprising while walking along a road near Arnhem. Men wearing his brother Gerald’s regimental shoulder patch were marching past.
Moments later, the two brothers were embracing; Captain Justin Sullivan and Major Gerald Sullivan, who would later be appointed Member, Order of the British Empire by King George VI.
It was an astonishing reunion in the midst of “Market Garden,” the Second World War military operation in Holland celebrated in the 1977 movie, “A Bridge Too Far.” The film tells the story of the failed attempt to seize bridges in the occupied Netherlands with a view towards ending the war by Christmas, 1944.
I have a personal connection to and a fondness for the kind, gentle and highly respected man who was Justin Sullivan Mallon. I spent a couple of summers working in his law office in Sarnia, doing odd jobs and searching titles at the Registry Office. His oldest son, Howard, who died at age 13 in a tragic drowning accident, was my brother Larry’s best friend.
When Justin died in Sarnia in 1986, it was a tragic loss for Sarnia’s legal community. They attended his funeral en masse,, as a sign of respect. City flags flew at half-staff.
The scion of a prominent Toronto family, Justin Mallon was the son of a lawyer and a concert pianist and harpist with the Toronto Symphony. Both Justin and his brother Gerald followed their father into the legal profession, with Justin earning his degree in 1938, the year before the Second World War broke out. He knew that war was coming, and enlisted as an officer in the Canadian Army Reserve Forces.
When war finally came, Lt. Justin Sullivan was posted to Fort Benning, Georgia as a liaison officer, following which he was posted to London. Here he pursued legal work for the Canadian forces and survived the Blitz, the German bombing of London that was Hitler’s failed attempt to demoralize the British and their fighting spirit.
Promoted to Captain in 1944, Justin entered France following D-Day, commanding a unit responsible for delivering heavy armaments by truck to the front lines. He saw action in the Battle of Caen, and the famous Battle of Falaise Gap, which attempted to encircle the entire German Army’s “Group B,” which included the Seventh Army and the Fifth Panzer Army.
After participating in the Canadian liberation of Holland, Justin Mallon returned to Canada, making his home in Sarnia and serving the community for decades. With his wife Lorraine, truly one of the “grand ladies” of Sarnia, they raised ten children.