Private Carl Alphonse Hanlon—Died of Accidental Causes July 13, 1944

 Carl Alphonse Hanlon was born in Canso, Guysborough County, on February 2, 1924, the youngest of Joseph Edward and Caroline May “Carrie” (Fanning) Hanlon’s five children. Both of Carl’s parents were Canso natives. Joseph Edward was the son of Joseph and Ellen (Bond) Hanlon, while Carrie was the daughter of William and Kathleen (Hanlon) Fanning.

Private Carl Alphonse Hanlon's headstone, Caserta War Cemetery

At the time of the 1931 Canadian census, the Hanlon household consisted of parents Joseph and Carrie, and their five children—Francis “Frank” Patrick (DOB October 23, 1912); Joseph Francis (DOB March 16, 1914); Mary Kathleen (DOB September 27, 1915); Lillian Josephine (DOB December 16, 1917); and Carl, age seven.

Carl left school at age 15, having completed Grade 7. It appears that he left Canso for Halifax shortly afterward. At the time of his 1943 military enlistment, he had been working as a “candy-maker” with Moir’s Chocolates, Halifax, for three years. On February 22, 1943, Carl joined the Canadian Active Service Force at Halifax. Four days later, he departed for No. 60 Basic Training Centre, Yarmouth, NS.

On April 29, 1943, Carl was transferred to No. 60 Advanced Training Center, Aldershot, where he completed infantry instruction. Following six days’ pre-embarkation leave at the end of June, Carl departed for overseas on July 18 and arrived in the United Kingdom 10 days later. He was immediately assigned to the No. 7 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Centre (CIRU).

In late July 1943, Carl was attached to No. 5 (Battle) Wing, Canadian Training School (CTS), as a “batman” to one of its officers. The position involved duties similar to that of a valet—maintaining the officer’s uniform and personal equipment, driving the officer’s vehicle, and acting as a “runner” in delivering orders to subordinates. Carl served in this role at No. 5 CTS until late November 1943.

Early the following month, Carl was attached to the Army School of Infantry as “batman” for Lt. M. J. Doran. He served in that capacity for two and a half months, after which he reported to the Canadian Infantry Corps base, Henley, on February 18, 1944. The following day, Carl departed for the Mediterranean theatre as an infantry reinforcement.

Carl arrived in Naples, Italy, on March 3, 1944, and was immediately assigned to the Cape Breton Highlanders’ 3rd Battalion, a reinforcement unit. He then reported to the Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Group’s camp at Avellino, approximately 60 kilometres east of Naples, where he awaited orders to join the unit in the field.

On May 26, 1944, Carl was transferred from CBH’s 3rd Battalion to its 1st Battalion, a sign that orders to report to the unit would follow shortly. Later that same day, he was admitted to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital for treatment of an unidentified condition. Discharged from hospital two weeks later, he was once again posted to the CBH reinforcement list.

While awaiting an assignment with an active combat unit, soldiers were permitted to leave the reinforcement camp for recreation when “off duty.” At 1700 hours July 12, Carl left the barracks in the company of another soldier, Pte. E. H. Kaghee, who later described the evening’s events:

“We went down town in Avellino, and were expecting to go to a show. We went into a bar instead and Pte. Hanlon bought drinks because I did not have any money. We then went to another bar and stayed there and had a couple of drinks until the bar closed at approximately 1930 hours. We walked along the streets and found a bar that was open and Hanlon bought a small bottle of whiskey. We then went out on a side street and sat alongside a building…. At approximately 2115 hours [we] started back to barracks…. At the gate Pte. Hanlon was told to report to the Guard Room. He went in and that was the last I saw of him.”

At approximately 2230 hours, Pte. F. E. Hunt, another of Carl’s comrades, was in the barracks chatting with a room-mate when he “noticed somebody alongside me trying to get up.” Pte. Hunt later recalled, “I recognized him as Pte. Hanlon who sleeps next to me, and tried to get him back to bed but he would not go. I went back to my own bed and noticed Hanlon staggering out the door. This was the last I saw of him.”

Pte. A. U. Gallant, Regimental Police, was on duty that night and later described an incident that occurred shortly after midnight:

“At approximately 0035 hours 13 July 44 I was in the Guard Room when I heard a thud, or noise, something which I thought might have been a kit bag thrown from an upper story window and falling to the ground. I went out in company with two other MPs [military police] to check the noise…. I… went outside to the front of the building and saw something lying on the ground, and when I got closer I noticed that it was the body of a man. I went over to the man, and shone the light on his face, and also noticed blood on his face. I immediately notified the Medical Officer Captain {E. G.] McLaughlin and also the Guard Commander.”

Approximately 10 minutes later, Captain McLaughlin arrived on the scene, where he found a body “lying on the paved road near the front steps of the Borden Block Canada Barracks. He confirmed that the soldier “had been dead for a sufficient length of time for the body to become cold” and noticed “a large scalp wound over the occiput [back part of the skull] with a fractured skull and a fracture of the cervical spine at the level of the seventh cervical vertebrae.”

Lt. McLaughlin located a stretcher and blanket and placed the body in the back of a vehicle that departed for No. 1 Canadian General Hospital. Pte. Gallant accompanied the body to the facility, where a Medical Officer assumed responsibility for the corpse. He then “checked the pockets for his identity, and found his identity card,… which proved that [the deceased] was F/52098 Pte. Hanlon C. A.”

At 1030 hours July 13, Pte. A Miron received instructions “to go up on the roof of the Borden building to see if there was anything lying there.” He “found a tam-o-shanter with the badge of Cape Breton Highlanders… about the centre of the building and about eight feet from the edge” of the roof directly above where Carl’s body had been found.

Carl’s remains were removed from No. 1 Canadian General Hospital on the afternoon July 13 and interred in Caserta War Cemetery, Caserta. A Court of Inquiry convened two days after the incident concluded that Carl’s death was “accidental, due to misadventure, while under the influence of liquor.” The Court’s report also commented that Pte. Hanlon had reported to the Guard Room “[and] should have been confined there until morning.”

Two of Carl’s older brothers, Frank and Joseph, were serving with the Royal Canadian Navy at the time of his death. The oldest of the Hanlon children, Frank had married Florence Ann Melancon, a native of Plympton, Yarmouth County, in 1933.

Carl’s mother Carrie passed away in Eastern Memorial Hospital, Canso, on April 2, 1959, the result of “myocardial failure.” His father Joseph Edward died in the same facility on December 15, 1963, after a year-long battle with cancer.