Henry George Charles Shea and his twin brother, William John Patrick Shea, were born in London, England, on April 2, 1918. At the time, their father, Patrick Henry Shea, Tompkinsville Road, Guysborough County, was a soldier with the 85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders). Patrick had married Eva Bates, in London, England, while recovering from wounds received in France.
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| Private Henry George Charles Shea |
The Tompkinsville Sheas were descendants of Irish immigrants John and Sarah Shea. The family was part of a small community of Irish families located along a rural road, where their neighbours included the White, Tovey, Mulcahy, Condon, Connolly, and Walsh families. The Shea residence was not far from the local school.
John and Sarah Shea raised a family of four boys and four girls. A son Patrick took over the farm and married Susan McAllister, daughter of William and Sarah (MacLean) McAllister, Ogden, Guysborough County. Patrick and Susan’s household grew to include five sons and five daughters. Their third son, Patrick Henry Shea, was born on March 15, 1894.
Patrick left the farm for Halifax at age 21 and went directly to the recruiting centre of the newly formed 85th Battalion. Authorized on September 14, 1915, as the province’s second infantry unit, the 85th conducted a province-wide recruitment drive. Its “B” Company canvassed Antigonish and Guysborough Counties in search of recruits.
Patrick Shea enlisted with the 85th at Halifax on October 29, 1915. He and his comrades spent the autumn and winter of 1915-16 in canvas tents and barracks erected on the Halifax Commons, relocating to Camp Aldershot in May 1916. After a summer of training, the 85th departed for overseas aboard SS Olympic on October 12, 1916.
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| Private Patrick Shea, 85th Battalion |
The 85th Battalion crossed the English Channel to France on February 10, 1917, and was temporarily assigned to the 4th Canadian Division’s 11th Brigade in early April. As the Canadian Corps prepared for its historic April 9, 1917 assault on Vim Ridge, the inexperienced 85th was designated a “working unit.”
When the 4th Division’s soldiers failed to capture Hill 145, the ridge’s highest elevation, two of the 85th’s Companies were sent into the line in late afternoon. The Nova Scotians secured the hill’s western slope in an early evening assault. The following day, the rest of their comrades joined them in the front trenches as Canadian units secured the remainder of the ridge. Today, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial sits atop the strategically important Hill 145.
On April 12, 1917, Private Patrick Shea received shrapnel wounds to his left shoulder, neck, left knee and left rib cage while in the line near Vimy. Evacuated to the 11th Canadian Field Ambulance dressing station, he was invalided to England on April 16 and admitted to Metropolitan Hospital, Kingsland Road, London. In mid-August, Patrick was transferred to Hillingdon House. Upon his discharge from hospital on September 18, he reported to Camp Bramshott.
Before month’s end, one of Patrick’s wounds reopened, prompting his admission to No. 12 Canadian Military Hospital, Bramshott. After a two-week stay, he was transferred to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Epsom, in mid-October. Three months later, Patrick was discharged from hospital. The nature of his wounds meant that he was unable to return to the 85th’s ranks. Instead, he was assigned to the Canadian Army Service Corps (CASC) on December 22, 1917.
While Patrick was under medical care in England, he met a 25-year-old English woman named Eva Bates. He requested permission to marry and received approval on January 28, 1918. Meanwhile, medical authorities assessed his physical condition to determine if he was fit for duty with the CASC.
Patrick had considerable difficulty lifting his left arm and medical staff determined that he would likely experience pain from his wounds for the rest of his life. On January 23, 1918, he was ordered to report to the Canadian Discharge Depot, Buxton, for eventual return to Canada. While he awaited orders to depart for Canada, he and Eva were married in London.
On February 28, 1918, Patrick was formally transferred to Canada. Shortly afterward, he returned to Halifax, where he was discharged from military service on March 30, 1918. His wife Eva and their infant sons, Henry and William, arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, aboard SS Melita on March 6, 1919, and joined Patrick in Nova Scotia shortly afterward.
Patrick and Eva first settled in Guysborough, where three more boys—Joseph, Jerome and Victor—joined the family. For several years, the family lived in New Glasgow, where Patrick worked as a plumber. At the time of the 1921 census, Patrick’s sister Mary was living with the couple, probably assisting Eva in the busy Shea household.
The family eventually returned to Guysborough, where Patrick worked as a jail keeper. He continued to suffer the effects of his wounds and overseas service. Patrick died in Guysborough on January 9, 1929, and was interred in St, Ann’s Parish Cemetery. He was only 35 years old at the time of his passing.
Henry George Charles Shea completed Grade X in the Guysborough school system. Upon leaving school in 1934, he worked as a labourer in the local area. Several months after the outbreak of war in Europe, Henry enlisted with the 86th Heavy Battery at Auld’s Cove, NS, on July 19, 1940.
Henry’s initial unit was considerably different than his father’s infantry battalion. Established after the First World War, the 86th Field Battery was based in a gun shed located on Victoria St., Antigonish, and was initially equipped with six 18-pounder guns. In June 1938, the unit was re-designated the 86th Coastal Battery and placed under the command of the 16th Coastal Brigade, which was responsible for the defence of the Strait of Canso, Sydney and Louisbourg harbours.
In the event of war, military authorities planned to establish two batteries on the mainland side of the Strait on a smaller scale than similar installations planned for Sydney. The rail terminals and ferry operations across the Strait had to be protected, as vital raw materials—coal and steel stock—required transportation to the mainland. The rail and passenger ferry service connecting Port Hastings and Mulgrave was the only means to do so at that time.
The Strait of Canso was thus vital to Canada’s war effort. Less than a month after Canada’s September 10, 1939 declaration of war, the first battery, located at Auld’s Cove, commenced operation on October 1. Called the Beacon Battery, the fortification overlooked the northern entrance to the Strait and was equipped with two 4.7-inch guns. The second installation at Melford, south of Mulgrave, contained the same equipment and was completed on October 5.
Henry spent the next four years with the 86th Battery in various capacities. He was posted to the Beacon Battery’s “gun detachment” until June 1941, then employed as a “caterer” in its canteen until February 1942, at which time he returned to the gun detachment. From September 21 to October 17, 1942, he completed a Non-Commissioned Officer’s course at A23 Training Camp for Coast Defence, Eastern Passage. Upon returning to duty, Henry was promoted to the rank of Lance Bombardier.
While Henry was serving in the Strait of Canso area, he met Priscilla Levangie, daughter of William and Sophie (Decoste) Levangie, Frankville. William operated a family store established by his father James in the small community. As a young man, James headed to Boston to fish each winter. In 1902, while returning home, he stopped in Truro on his way home to buy supplies and start a store in his village.
James hauled a building from Havre Boucher to Frankville with a team of oxen and Levangie’s General Store commenced operation. William took over the business in 1917. According to local lore, he was a strong Acadian who disapproved of children speaking English in the store and would not serve them until they spoke French. In 1955, William’s son Cyril inherited the business and erected a new store in 1962. It operated for more than a century, spanning four generations during that time.
On November 16, 1942, Henry Shea married Priscilla Levangie in a ceremony held in St Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, Havre Boucher. The couple’s first child—a daughter, Mary Kathleen—was born in 1944. Meanwhile, Henry continued to serve in the Strait and Cape Breton areas. In January 1943, he was assigned to an artillery detachment in Louisbourg, the location where convoys gathered during the winter months when Sydney’s harbour was ice-bound. In July 1943, he returned to Auld’s Cove.
During battle drill exercises held in September, Private Shea learned to handle a .303 rifle, a Bren light machine gun, a Browning machine gun, and a Thompson sub-machine gun. On September 22, he was exempted from battle drill due to a sore back. A subsequent medical examination determined that he had achieved a high level of fitness. In February 1944, Henry trained with the weapons again in a repeat of the September regimen.
Infantry training for artillery soldiers was not a coincidence. During the winter of 1943-44, as Allied forces prepared for an invasion of France, the Canadian army sought to increase its manpower. British General Bernard L. Montgomery had warned Canadian commanders that they lacked reinforcements for their infantry ranks and had too many soldiers assigned to “ad hoc” units.
Despite Montgomery’s statements, Canadian military authorities failed to take significant action with regard to reinforcements prior to the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings. It is true that the Canadian Army (Canada) transferred 5,565 soldiers to the United Kingdom in April and May 1944, while another 2,000 arrived overseas the following month. These numbers, however, proved to be insufficient to maintain Canadian combat units in the weeks following D-Day.
Henry Shea was part of the reinforcement group dispatched to the United Kingdom in June 1944. Transferred to No. 1 Transit Camp, Windsor, NS, on April 22, 1944, he received the standard embarkation leave from May 5 to May 8. Perhaps not surprisingly considering his family circumstances, Henry was late returning to duty and was docked pay. He departed for overseas on June 26. Upon landing in England one week later, he reported to No. 4 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit (CIRU).
As casualties mounted after the D-Day landings, Canadian authorities were forced to introduce an emergency re-mustering program. On July 25, 1944, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Stuart, Canadian Army Chief of Staff, ordered that 25% of Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) reinforcements and 60% of Royal Canadian Service Corps (RCSC) reinforcements re-muster as infantry.
The day prior to Stuart’s orders—July 24, 1944—Private Henry Shea embarked for the continent and set foot in France the following day. His service file contains the same confusion as another Antigonish soldier, Hugh MacInnis of Georgeville. Both were initially listed in service documents as transfers to the Royal Canadian Regiment (“Black Watch”) but were actually assigned to the Royal Regiment of Canada (RRC), which belonged to the 2nd Canadian Division’s 4th Brigade.
Henry officially joined the RRC’s ranks on the same day he set foot on the continent, but likely was in the rear, moving forward with Hugh MacInnis, as their new unit entered combat further inland, south of the city of Caen, France.
The Allies’ first weeks on the continent had not gone as planned. While their forces secured a beachhead in Normandy, units struggled to break through German lines into the French interior. During that time, Canadian forces were organized into two formations—the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division—under the command of the British 2nd Army.
During the first week of July, the 2nd Canadian Division landed in France and assembled at the beach-head while the 3rd Canadian Division served with British forces in a series of campaigns. On July 8, Allied forces launched Operation Charnwood, a plan to push the Germans out of Caen. After the city’s fall, German forces withdrew to high ground along Verrières Ridge, south of Caen, where they established a strongly reinforced defensive line.
At that time, the 2nd Canadian Division was inserted into the Allied line to the right of the 3rd Canadian Division. On July 18, the inexperienced units were given the task of securing the right flank along the Orne River. Specifically, the 2nd Division’s 4th Brigade was ordered to capture Louvigny, a village west of the Orne River and south of Caen. Brigade commanders assigned the mission to the Royal Regiment of Canada (RRC).
While its soldiers secured the objective, the “Royals” suffered 111 casualties, a number that included 34 fatalities. During its first week in the line, the 2nd Division suffered 1,349 casualties, but the worst was yet come.
With two Canadian Divisions now in the line south of Caen, Allied commanders approved the formation of 2nd Canadian Corps, under the command of Major-General Guy Simonds. In addition to the two infantry divisions, the Corps included two British Armoured Divisions. Simonds’ units manned the Allied line between the British 12th Corps on their western or right flank and 1st British Corps on their eastern or left flank.
After the failure of an initial July 18 assault on Verrières Ridge, a second attack, given the code name Operation Spring, was scheduled for July 25. Planned in three stages, the assault was to occur in conjunction with an American operation given the code name Cobra. The Canadian axis of attack would follow the arrow-straight road running from Caen to Falaise.
Opposing German forces on Verrières Ridge were formidable and included seven Panzer Divisions, equipped with approximately 600 tanks. In the face of such mobile weapons, the Allied offensive was designed as a “holding attack” intended to keep the German Army from transferring forces to the American Army sector, which faced only two Panzer Divisions. The goal was to assist US General Omar Bradley’s attack on Saint-Lô, where the Americans hoped to break through the German line.
On Verrières Ridge’s western flank, near the Orne River, the2nd Canadian Division’s 5th Brigade would attack from St. Martin-de-Fontenay, its Black Watch Regiment making a bid for Fontenay-le-Marmion. Simultaneously, the 4th Brigade’s Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Regiment (RHLI) in the centre would advance towards the village of Verrières itself, with the Royal Regiment of Canada (RRC) designated as the “follow up” battalion. On the eastern flank, the 9th Brigade’s North Nova Scotia Highlanders were to advance toward Tilly-la-Campagne.
H-Hour for all attacks was set for 0330 hours July 25. As the battle unfolded, German forces repelled both flank attacks, inflicting heavy causalities. The 5th Brigade’s Black Watch Regiment, under the command of Major Fred P. Griffin, made a valiant attempt to capture the strategic position in one the most heroic actions of the war. Over 300 men went up the ridge but only 60 “all ranks” managed to reach the flat top in front of the village of Fontenay-le-Marmion. Once there, the soldiers were pinned down, only 15 managing to return to their lines.
The Nova Novas’ attack on the left or eastern flank toward Tilly-la-Campagne also failed, resulting in 139 causalities—61 soldiers killed, 46 wounded and 32 taken prisoner. The assault in the centre achieved a measure of success as the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) managed to capture the village of Verrières but failed to advance further.
Major General Guy Simonds sought to exploit this small victory. 4th Brigade Commander James Edwin Ganong ordered the Royal Regiment of Canada (RRC) to assist the “Rileys” (RHLI) in resuming the advance. As his soldiers moved forward, Lieutenant-Colonel John “Jock” Anderson, the RRC’s commander, decided to bypass Verrières village on the left instead of passing through it.
All four RRC Companies participated in the attack. “C” Company took up positions on the right flank, while “B” occupied the left. The remaining two Companies followed in a standard box formation. A group of 18 tanks from the 1st Hussars’ “C” Company supported the infantry advance.
While the column successfully passed the village, eight German Panther tanks launched an attack as the soldiers continued toward the ridge. A fierce firefight erupted, resulting in the destruction of all German tanks and 14 of the Hussars’ 18 Shermans. As the infantry column reached the bottom of the ridge, it was struck by a “hurricane of fire.”
Located in a wide-open field, there was nowhere for the soldiers to take shelter. Most of the RRC’s ‘C” Company was eliminated, only 18 of its ranks escaping to safety. The remaining Companies retreated and went to ground, digging in to the left of the village alongside the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. The soldiers realized that the Germans would not allow them to establish a defensive position without a fight.
The RRC’s war diary reported that plans to continue the attack were canceled at 1550 hours [3:50 pm], and the rest of the day was spent digging in. Even before the July 25 action, the ranks of many 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Division units were already depleted. The day’s fighting cost the Canadian Army another 1,500 battle casualties.
The following day—July 26, 1944— the RRC’s war diary described the unit’s location as running from the “reverse slope of the ridge from Verrières [village] on the right to the main Caen-Falaise highway on [the] left with the enemy in dead gr [ground] about 300 yards to our front.” A small German counterattack later in the day was easily repulsed. Otherwise, it was a quiet day.
Considering the previous day’s losses, Private Henry Shea was most likely in the line with the RRC by this time. During the day, the unit’s ‘D” Company advanced to “B” Company’s position, following an artillery barrage designed to hide the move from the enemy. Meanwhile, the Germans were planning a stronger counterattack, slated to take place the following day.
Around midnight July 26/27, the Germans 1st Panzer Division, described in the RRC’s war diary as one of the “finest tps [types] he has,” attacked in force, focusing on two targets. Tanks from the 1st and 9th Panzer Divisions struck the RRC and RHLI lines near Verrières village. Second and third wave of attackers hit the Royals’ “A” and “B” Companies, inflicting approximately 20 casualties on their ranks. The unit’s war diary commented that some of its “new men” were hit during these attacks. It is possible that Private Henry Shea was killed at this time.
The 5th Infantry Brigade in St Martin-de-Fontenay was also targeted 2nd Panzer Division units. Later that same day, the 9th SS’s heavy tank units advanced toward the same location. Both assaults were repulsed with heavy losses.
According to his service file, Private Henry George Charles Shea was killed in action on July 27, 1944, likely during the Panzer attack on the village of Verrières. He was first buried at map reference 7E/5, 987813, and mistakenly listed as a member of the Royal Highland Regiment (Black Watch, Montreal). Subsequent entries corrected the error, properly identifying him as a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada. Henry’s remains were re-interred in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Calvados, France, on May 15, 1945.
When word of Henry’s death reached his twin brother, William “Bill” wrote a letter to the Department of Defence. The correspondence, dated August 21, 1944, questioning the amount of infantry training that Henry—a former artillery soldier—received before entering combat. Bill had briefly served in the Canadian Army but was discharged because he was “flat-footed.” It is not known if he received a response. Following his return to civilian life, Bill earned a living as a barber in Guysborough town. He and his wife Christine Cameron raised a family of two children. Bill Shea passed away in 1987.
All of Henry’s remaining brothers served overseas. Joseph saw combat in Europe. After the war, he worked at the Dickie’s Brook power station. Joseph Shea passed away in Guysborough in 1977. Jerome served with the 6th Anti-Tank Regiment, which was directly under 2nd Canadian Corps command. Twice wound in action, he returned to Canada and settled in Ontario, where he passed away in 2004.
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| Private Jerome Shea (top), Gunner Joseph Shea (center) & Private Victor Shea |
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