John Craig Renwick enlisted at age 20 in Toronto on 02 June 1943 to follow his brother David Gordon (Pappy) Renwick who was overseas with the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders. He was given the service number B147684. He gave his religion as Presbyterian. Following training he sailed to the UK (date not recorded) and was placed in the 48th Highlanders Holding Unit.
On 8 June 1944 he embarked from the UK and arrived in Italy on 22 June. He reached the battalion on 26 July 1944 while the battalion was at rest at Piedmonte d’Alife, recovering from their successful, and first, breaching of the Hitler Line at Pontecorvo, south of Rome. He was assigned to HQ Company as a signaller. In the fall the battalion moved to the Adriatic coast to begin the assault through the Gothic Line and the Rimini Line from August though September. On 10 October, after a short rest at Miramar, near Rimini, the battalion began chasing the Germans through Lombardy, hampered by the deep mud from the fall rains. On 18 October Pte Renwick was taken on strength of the X-3 list (hospital). After recovery, he returned to the battalion on 27 October and participated in the battles in December crossing the Lamone River and in the New Year again chasing the Germans in the Ravenna area.
On 11-13 March 1945 the battalion sailed from Leghorn (near Florence) to Marseilles France as the 1st Canadian Division moved through France to take the task of completing the liberation of Holland. Renwick participated in the Operation Cannonshot, the liberation of Apeldoorn from 12 to 17 April, then in May acted a gaolers to the SS in The Hague. The battalion left NWE on 4 September for the UK on 5 September as the first step in returning to Canada in late September arriving in Toronto on 1 October.
NOK: Mother – Mrs. Marion Renwick, 10 Lock Street, Merriton, Ontario.