When Donald George Hewitt was born on 11 February 1921 in Ontario, Canada, his father, John, was 28 and his mother, Jennie, was 26. He had one daughter from one relationship. He died on 23 October 1944 near Mariabaan, Wouwse Plantage Noord-Brabant, Netherlands close to the Belgian border with Essen, when he was just 23 years old. Guardsman Donald George Hewitt and Lieutenant Simeon Besen were shot dead by German Snipers when they emerged from the safety of their Sherman tank.*

Guardsman Hewitt was first buried in a field grave near Moerkantsebaan at Essen (Belgium - close to the Kiekenhoeve) and then reburied in the canadian war cemetery of Bergen op Zoom.

* source: Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign, Mark Zuehlke

** source picture temporary grave: Essen in beeld