Remembering World War II

Francis William 'Skip' McCarthy 3530850 Private 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment (M.G.) October 6, 1909 Moncton, New Brunswick April 4, 1939 England 1927-1936 75th Lunenburg Regiment 1936-1939 West Nova Scotia Regiment August 7, 1947 37 Liverpool Anglican Cemetery, NS Although born in Moncton, New Brunswick, Skip McCarthy grew up in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He studied art in New York and prior to military service was employed as a Bank Teller in Bridgewater, NS. In 1938-1939, inspired by the writings of the Halifax Herald’s military columnist Jim Carroll, an ex- British soldier, McCarthy was the eldest who left Halifax to join the Manchester Regiment. The Canadians that joined the Regiment became known as the Halifax One Hundred. The harsh economic conditions of the 1930’s frustrated many militia members in their failed attempts to join the regular army. When word reached Skip that men were being recruited in Halifax for the British Army he and two other West Nova ‘originals’ Arnold ‘Slim’ Carver and Gerald Crouse, both from Italy Cross, NS, headed for the city. Successfully passing an interview and physical they were soon on their way to England. They enlisted in the 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment (M.G.) on April 4, 1939. When war was declared, the 2/Mancs, the Divisional Machine Gun Battalion in the British 2nd Division left England reaching Cherbourg, France September 23, 1939. Stationed on the Maginot Line near the Belgium border they waited in the trenches they had dug for the inevitable German attack which finally commenced May 10, 1940. Attached to 'D' Company, Skip served in a platoon with fellow Nova Scotian Clyde Cruickshanks as well as his mates Arnold Carver and Gerald Crouse. On May 26, 1940, performing rear guard actions that allowed others to proceed to the beaches of Dunkirk, Skip's platoon, after bitter fighting was overrun by superior German forces and forced to surrender. Arnold and Gerald managed to escape but Skip had been wounded in the leg and he along with Clyde became POWs ending up at Stalag XXA, located just south of the town of Thorun in Poland. Years of forced manual labour, meagre rations in squalid conditions compounded by diseases like jaundice and dysentery even the heartiest of men suffered. In January, 1945 the Germans began the infamous 'Long March' of the already weakened POW’s towards Germany in order to flee the advancing Russians. In one of the coldest winters in years, the POWs were marched twenty to forty km a day through two or three feet of snow and sub-freezing temperatures. Frost bite was severe and many died from disease. Shootings and beatings of those unable to keep up were frequent. Their eventual liberation by American forces in April 1945 found Private McCarthy in failing health. Repatriated home to Nova Scotia he was unable to resume a normal life. He passed away at the Nova Scotia Sanatorium in Kentville August 7th, 1947 from TB contracted while a prisoner of war. He was 37 years old. He is buried at the Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Liverpool NS. In 1936 when Skip's 75th Lunenburg Regiment merged with the 69th Annapolis Regiment and Skip's superiors, knowing of his artistic background and talent, tasked him to design the insignia for the new unit, the West Nova Scotia Regiment.

Francis William McCarthy

Name: Service Number: Rank: Service: Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Enlistment: Place of Enlistment: Prior Military Service: Date of Death: Age at Death: Cemetery/Memorial:

Source: Dave Gilhen, Halifax NS Facebook website: The Halifax 100 - Manchester Regiment WW2 Manchester Regiment

Gravestone, Liverpool, NS photo: Grenville Jones