Jeff Nicklin

Lieutenant Colonel Jevon Albert "Jeff" Nicklin OBE (December 10, 1914 − March 24, 1945) was a Canadian Army officer and football player. He fought during World War II and was one of the first Canadians to jump on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and led the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the Battle of the Bulge and later when it jumped into German territory in Operation Varsity during the final stages of the war in March 1945. Nicklin was killed in action during the operation.

Football career The native of Winnipeg was born in 1914, the son of Percy Harold Nicklin and Eva Louise Nicklin. He played Canadian football as a back with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 1934 to 1940. In 1935, Winnipeg became the first Western team to capture the Grey Cup. While Nicklin was there, the club advanced to the Grey Cup twice more in 1937 and 1938, before losing in the finals. In 1939, Winnipeg returned to capture the 27th Grey Cup by defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders. Nicklin received Western all-star honours as an end in 1937 and 1938, and as flying wing in 1939.

Military service Nicklin served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War (1939−1945), and, after enlisting in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Army in the summer of 1940, he worked his way up through the ranks from private and later was commissioned as an officer.

He was killed in action on March 24, 1945. He is now buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. He left a widow, Mary Eileen Nicklin, in Port Credit, Ontario. The original recommendation for the honour describes how he was able to "rectify certain aspects of the Battalion's life which were not satisfactory" and credited him with "the smooth working and unparalleled success which has met the inclusion of a Canadian Battalion in a British Brigade", the recommendation concludes, "throughout the present campaign his example of courageous leadership has been an example to all who have come into contact with him." Nicklin was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. Sportswriter Vince Leah placed Nicklin atop his list of all-time greatest Winnipeg players in A History of the Blue Bombers. A documentary film about Nicklin, Jeff Nicklin: Hero of the Gridiron and the Battlefield, has been produced by the War Amps of Canada. Nicklin's story and that of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during Operation Varsity was featured in the episode "Across the Rhine - Paratroopers in Germany" of Season 1 of the documentary series War Story.