Alby Sumara
| Date and Place of Birth: | May 4, 1918 Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Date and Place of Death: | November 1, 1944 Belgium |
| Baseball Experience: | Amateur |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Private |
| Military Unit: | North Nova Scotia Highlanders, Canadian Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Albion Sumara, Baseball Hurler, Killed in Action.
Springhill Record
Albin F. "Alby" Sumara was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia in 1918.
He was well-known to sports fans throughout Nova Scotia pitching for
several provincial baseball teams before the war, including the
Springhill Fencebusters, Pugwash Maple Leafs and Kentville. He was rated
as one of the top moundsmen while pitching for the Kentville squad in
1938, and the Fencebusters in 1939.
Sumara enlisted with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders in June 1940, and
left for overseas duty on July 29, 1941. Shortly before departing for
overseas duty in July 1941, he returned to his hometown to see his
family one last time. His cousin, Helen, remembers the night Albin
showed up at her door. He came into the house and took Helen's infant
son, Dougie, into his arms. He paced the hallway between the porch and
kitchen, rocking the baby and saying, "I'm going away to war, and I may
never see you again."
In the last week of September 1944, the Allies held the city of Antwerp,
but the Germans held both shores of the Scheldt estuary, so that the
port of Antwerp could not be used. The task of clearing the southern
shore of the estuary was allotted to the 3rd Canadian Division, of which
the North Nova Scotia Highlanders were part. On November 1, 1944,
Private Sumara was killed in action. Two days later the Germans had been
cleared from the north-west corner of Belgium and the south shore of the
Scheldt was free.
Albin Sumara is buried at the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium.
Thanks to Sumara family historian, Mark Rushton and Springhill baseball expert, James Melanson for help with this biography.
Date Added February 8, 2013
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