Bert Hoffmeister

Bertram Hoffmeister
Major General B.M. Hoffmeister, General Officer Commanding 5th Canadian Armoured Division, in the turret of the Sherman tank "Vancouver" near Castrocielo, 23 May 1944
Nickname(s)	Bert
Born	(1907-05-15)15 May 1907 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died	4 December 1999(1999-12-04) (aged 92)
Allegiance	Canadian
Service/branch	Canadian Active Service Force
Years of service	1927–1945
Rank	Major General
Commands held	Canadian Pacific Force (1945) 6th Canadian Division (1945) 5th Canadian Armoured Division (1944–45) 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade (1943–44) The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada (1942–43)
Battles/wars	Second World War Battle of Sicily Italian Campaign Moro River Campaign Battle of Ortona Liri Valley Gothic Line Battle of Rimini Liberation of Arnhem Battle of Otterlo North West Europe Campaign
Awards	Officer of the Order of Canada Companion of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars Efficiency Decoration Mentioned in Despatches Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)

Major General Bertram Meryl Hoffmeister, OC, CB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, ED (15 May 1907 – 4 December 1999) was a Canadian Army officer, businessman, and conservationist.

Early life and career[]

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia to parents Louis and Flora, Hoffmeister was a sales manager with the Canadian White Pine Co. Ltd. in Vancouver. He enlisted with the Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM, the Canadian Army Reserve Force) in 1927. He was promoted captain in 1934. After he was promoted to major, in 1939, he was made officer commanding a company of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, who went to England in 1939.

Second World War[]

Bert Hoffmeister

Hoffmeister attended the Canadian Junior War Staff courses at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. In 1942, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1943, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) while fighting in Sicily.^[1] He received a Bar to the DSO the following year.^[2]

In October 1943, promoted to brigadier, Hoffmeister was named commanding officer of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, which fought in the Italian Campaign. In March 1944, he was promoted to major general and made general officer commanding the 5th Canadian Armoured Division. After VE-Day, he was made general officer commanding the 6th Canadian Division (Canadian Pacific Force) which disbanded after the atomic bombings of Japan. Hoffmeister retired from active service in September 1945. That same year, he was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau with swords as well as a Companion of the Order of the Bath,^[3] and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.^[4] In 1947, he was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit.

Post-war[]

After the war, Hoffmeister became president of MacMillan Bloedel Limited in 1949 and was its chairman from 1956 to 1958. From 1958 to 1961, he was British Columbia's agent general in London. From 1961 to 1968, he was chairman of the Council of Forest Industries of British Columbia, an association for the British Columbia interior forest industry. From 1971 to 1991 he was the founding chairman of the Nature Trust of British Columbia, a non-profit land conservation organization.

In 1982, Hoffmeister was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

References[]

• "Major-General B.M. Hoffmeister". Juno Beach Centre. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
• "Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry". University of Toronto Press.^{[permanent dead link]}
• Douglas E. Delaney (2006). The Soldiers' General: Bert Hoffmeister at War. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0-7748-1149-8.
• "Military Biography MGen Bert Hoffmeister". Okanagan Military Museum. Archived from the original on 2013-08-12.