Home > CMH > Vol. 10 (2001) > Iss. 1
Abstract
Editor’s note: On 12 August the RHLI was ordered to advance towards Clair Tizon. At a small crossroads near the abandoned hamlet of Barbery, the Regiment met German resistance. As the unit moved through the wheatfields, it encountered German infantry and armour. The maelstrom that engulfed the Rileys was later described as “the most intense mortaring and shelling the unit ever witnessed.” All day long the Battalion endured German counterattacks designed to keep the Falaise pocket open. At dusk the Germans withdrew leaving the field to the Canadians. The cost of the battle was high—20 men killed and 100 wounded. Doug Shaughnessy was detailed to help recover the men killed during the battle. While carrying out this duty, Shaughnessy had the heartbreaking experience of discovering the body of his best pal and scout buddy, Private Harold L. Green, who had been felled by a German machine gunner.
Shaughnessy states that this tribute to Harry was “written by a soldier who probably knew him better than most and was his closest friend at least in the last year of his life and who buried him in a soldier’s grave on a hill top above the town of Bretteville-sur-Laize in Normandy.”
Recommended Citation
Shaughnessy, Doug "Some Thoughts about Private Harold L. Green of the Scout Platoon, First Battalion, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry." Canadian Military History 10, 1 (2001)
