Citation(s);
Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of J. Cranston, of Merrickville, Ontario.
On April 28, 1917, Lance Corporal Cranston was awarded the Military Medal for conspicious gallantry and coolness during the attack on Arleux-en-Gohelle, when the wave he was supporting was held up by fire from the enemy machine guns. He immediately organized his section and sent them to engage one of the guns. He successfully bombed the other gun, putting it out of action. With the assistance of his section, he took 20 prisoners, thus relieving what might have been a critical situation. British War Medal, Victory Medal
Digital gallery of Sergeant Harry Cranston
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Sergeant Harry Cranston enlisted on August 10, 1915 at Brandon, Manitoba.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
From "Our Heroes in The Great World War", compiled by J. H. De Wolfe, Patriotic Publishing Co., Ottawa, Ontario, 1919.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Harry Cranston is honoured on page 9 of the <i>Merrickville Remembers</i> booklet, published in January 2003.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
This project was sponsored jointly by the Canadian Legion Branch 245 and the Merrickville District Community Health Centre. Serving on the Committee were Jack Jessop, Past President of Legion Branch 245; Joyce McKay, who lost a brother in the Second World War; Peter McKenna, Executive Director of Merrickville and District Community Health Centre; and Jack Wilcox, who upon discharge from the Canadian Army in 1945, prepared the Sydney Academy Memorial Booklet honouring the students of the Academy who gave their lives in the Second World War.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Biography courtesy of the Lest We Forget remembrance initiative of the Smith Falls District Collegiate.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Biography courtesy of the Lest We Forget remembrance initiative of the Smith Falls District Collegiate.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Source: Library and Archives Canada. CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH REGISTERS, FIRST WORLD WAR Surnames: CRABB TO CROSSLAND Microform Sequence 24; Volume Number 31829_B016733. Reference RG150, 1992-93/314, 168. Page 269 of 788.
Digital gallery of
Sergeant Harry Cranston
Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
Image gallery
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Sergeant Harry Cranston enlisted on August 10, 1915 at Brandon, Manitoba.
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From "Our Heroes in The Great World War", compiled by J. H. De Wolfe, Patriotic Publishing Co., Ottawa, Ontario, 1919.
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Harry Cranston is honoured on page 9 of the <i>Merrickville Remembers</i> booklet, published in January 2003.
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This project was sponsored jointly by the Canadian Legion Branch 245 and the Merrickville District Community Health Centre. Serving on the Committee were Jack Jessop, Past President of Legion Branch 245; Joyce McKay, who lost a brother in the Second World War; Peter McKenna, Executive Director of Merrickville and District Community Health Centre; and Jack Wilcox, who upon discharge from the Canadian Army in 1945, prepared the Sydney Academy Memorial Booklet honouring the students of the Academy who gave their lives in the Second World War.
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Biography courtesy of the Lest We Forget remembrance initiative of the Smith Falls District Collegiate.
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Biography courtesy of the Lest We Forget remembrance initiative of the Smith Falls District Collegiate.
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Source: Library and Archives Canada. CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH REGISTERS, FIRST WORLD WAR Surnames: CRABB TO CROSSLAND Microform Sequence 24; Volume Number 31829_B016733. Reference RG150, 1992-93/314, 168. Page 269 of 788.
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Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
MENIN GATE (YPRES) MEMORIAL Belgium
The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:
TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.
Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:
HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.
The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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