Any thoughts CAPTAIN F. J. M. ARCHIBALD M. C. “On the 21st May 1944, “E” Troop gun posi­tion mid­way bet­ween PONTE COR­VO and AC­QUI­NO about 3000 yards EAST, was being heav­ily shelled. After a hit on an ammu­ni­tion dump the fire got out of con­trol and as result brought down a very severe shel­ling. On the 21 May 1944 sever­al shells landed at once, one bury­ing Lieut. Archi­bald and one landing bet­ween two slit trenches kil­ling three men mor­tally woun­ding a fourth and woun­ding four others. Lieut. Archibald dug himself out and despite the contin­uous shel­ling organ­ized the evac­ua­tion of the woun­ded and per­son­ally pulled the ammu­ni­tion from a bur­ning trailer, preven­ting a fur­ther explo­sion and loss of life. He suf­fered severe burns but with a total disre­gard for his own safety, by his own efforts, his cool­ness and organi­zation undoub­tedly saved the lives of his men and enabled the guns to be fired des­pite the con­tinu­ous shel­ling”. Matt
. Name Archibald, Francis John Moffat Rank: Lieutenant Regiment: 17 Field Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery Theatre of Combat or Operation: Italy Award: Military Cross Date of Announcement in London Gazette: 21 September 1944
Thanks for this insight Owen and Drew. Any Ideas on how to reconcile the 'war diary' with the 'citation' it appears to be the same event by 2 different men.
gpo's son. Would you, by chance, have 17 Fd Regt's WD for 22-24 May 44. I am looking at Op CHESTERFIELD - the Cdn attack on the Hitler Line at the moment. Regards FdeP
I posted those on the 17th field thread a couple weks ago http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/canadian/40117-17th-canadian-field-regiment-rca-history.html
Fde p I also posted the field maps showing the position of the 5th CAD between May 23rd and May 31st. considering the traffic problems it went off quite well considering it was there first op as a Division. you will see the officer mentioned in the war dairy [my father] was wounded on the 29th just west of Ceprano Matt
Oh Frank If you want a troopers story read War a soldiers diary at War-A Soldier's Diary and this Canadian military report on operations in the liri valley http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/rep-rap/doc/cmhq/cmhq121.pdf Matt
