Lawrence Patrick “Pat” MacPherson was born in St. Martha’s Hospital, Antigonish, NS, on November 18, 1919. Pat’s father Alexander was the son of William and Isabel MacPherson, Riverside, Guysborough County, while his mother Isabella was the daughter of David and Margaret (Marr) O’Connor, Guysborough Intervale.
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| Private Lawrence Patrick MacPherson |
Alex and Isabella married in Guysborough Intervale on April 15, 1901. Their first child, Eunice Margaret, was born in their North Riverside home in June 1901, while a second daughter, Helena Elizabeth, arrived on May 29, 1907. A son David Alexander joined the family in May 1910. By the time of the 1921 Canadian census, another four children were part of the MacPherson household—Mary Alice (YOB c. 1914); James Bernard (DOB May 13, 1917); Lawrence Patrick (DOB November 18, 1919); and Jerome Joseph (DOB December 9, 1920). Alex and Isabella’s youngest child, John Tompkins, was born around 1924.
Pat attended the local public school for seven years. After completing Grade VII, he left school to drive a truck for one of his older brothers, who had to restrict his activities due to illness. Only 14 years old at the time, Pat hauled lumber to Antigonish on a two-ton truck for several years and also worked on the family farm. Around 1938, he went to work as a truck driver for Brookfield Construction, Halifax, and was employed there at the time of his military enlistment.
On April 14, 1941, Pat married Florence Mary Hall, daughter of Howard and Catherine (Flavin) Hall, Boylston, in a ceremony took place in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Halifax. According to the marriage license, Pat was residing in the city at the time, while 20-year-old Florence was living at home. Three days later, Pat enlisted with the Canadian militia at New Glasgow, NS, under the terms of the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA).
The proximity of the two events suggests that Pat had been “called up” for military training under the terms of the NRMA and decided to marry prior to commencing military service. Over the next two months, he completed basic infantry training in New Glasgow and proceeded to Camp Aldershot for advanced instruction in late June. On August 28, he was assigned to the Halifax Rifles and reported to Mulgrave, NS, for duty.
After spending one month in the Canso Strait area, Pat enlisted with the Canadian Active Service Force on September 27, 1941. The second attestation meant that he was eligible for overseas service. Pat served in the Mulgrave and Sydney areas for the next seven months. During that time, he was hospitalized for treatment of tonsillitis, military surgeons performing a tonsillectomy in late January 1942. He also qualified as a Driver (Internal Combustion) Class III (Motor Transport) in early April 1942.
Later that same month, Pat relocated to Camp Borden, ON, for training. During his time there, he spent five days in hospital for treatment of functional dyspepsia, a chronic gastrointestinal disorder that causes upset stomach or upper abdominal discomfort.
Pat’s move to Ontario was the result of a significant change in the Halifax Rifles’ military assignment. On May 26, 1942, the unit was re-designated the 23rd Army Tank Battalion (Halifax Rifles) and commenced the transition to an armoured unit. One week later, Pat was formally transferred to the Canadian Armoured Corps’ 2nd Reinforcement Battalion and attached to the Corps’ Advanced Training Centre, Camp Borden, for duty. Granted leave in late July, he headed to Nova Scotia for a brief visit before returning to duty.
During the autumn of 1942, Pat’s father Alexander fell ill. Previously diagnosed with prostate cancer, he developed a kidney infection and was under doctor’s care for several months. On October 26, Pat was granted a two-week furlough, suggesting that he returned home to visit his ailing father. Alexander passed away at home in North Riverside on November 2, 1942, and was interred in St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Guysborough Intervale.
One week after his father’s death, Pat returned to Ontario. In late January 1943, he was “absorbed” into the Advanced Training Centre’s Home War Establishment, suggesting he was destined to serve in Canada only. On April 1, he was transferred to No. 2 Transit Camp, Owen Sound, ON. In mid-May, he received two weeks’ leave and returned home to meet his new-born son, Alexander James, who was born in Antigonish on April 24, 1943.
While Pat’s former Halifax Rifles comrades departed for overseas in mid-June 1943, he spent the summer months in Ontario. On August 9, he was transferred to No. 2 District Depot, Toronto, a posting that indicates he had been selected for overseas infantry service. At month’s end, he departed for No. 1 Transit Camp, Windsor, NS. On September 13, he left for overseas and set foot in the United Kingdom six days later.
Upon arriving in the UK, Pat was immediately assigned to No. 7 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit (CIRU). He spent the autumn and winter of 1943-44 in England, qualifying as a Motorcycle Driver in mid-February 1944. One month later, he was transferred to No. 4 CIRU, the next step toward service with an active infantry unit.
By the spring of 1944, Canadian personnel had been fighting in Italy for eight months. A steady stream of casualties created a demand for replacements. Pat was assigned to the Mediterranean Force’s reinforcement pool on May 2, 1944, and departed for Italy the same day. Two weeks later, he disembarked in Naples and was immediately placed on the West Nova Scotia Regiment’s reinforcement list.
By coincidence, his younger brother Jerome Joseph “Jerry” had enlisted with the Canadian Army earlier in the war and was serving in Italy with the same unit at that time. Early in his military service, Pat had expressed interest in serving alongside his brother. On May 28, his request was fulfilled when he officially joined the West Novas’ ranks.
The West Nova Scotia Regiment was created in 1936 when the Lunenburg and Annapolis Regiments amalgamated to form one militia unit. The battalion officially mobilized for service on September 1, 1939, and departed for overseas before year’s end. The “West Novas” were assigned to the 1st Canadian Division’s 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade (3rd CIB), where they served alongside the Carleton & York Regiment (New Brunswick) and the Royal 22e Régiment (Quebec’s “VanDoos”).
The 1st Canadian Division was part of the Allied force that invaded Sicily in early July 1943 and crossed the Strait of Messina to the Italian peninsula’s southern tip two months later. After advancing northward through the peninsula’s mountainous central region, the 1st Canadian Division spent the winter of 1943-44 in sectors north of Ortona, a historic town located on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
In mid-April 1944, the unit completed its last tour in the Adriatic sector and retired to a nearby rest camp. Over the next several weeks, the 1st Canadian Division made its way westward to an area south of the Liri Valley, where its units prepared for their next combat assignment. German forces had established two major defensive networks—the Gustav Line and the Hitler Line—in the strategic valley, which ran in a northwesterly direction toward Rome. A multinational Allied army was assigned the task of securing the valley, thus opening the pathway to the Italian capital.
Canadian units remained in reserve during the first phase of the campaign. On May 11, British, Italian and Polish forces launched an attack on the Gustav Line, located along the valley’s entrance, and broke through German defences after two hard days of fighting. At mid-month, the West Novas and other Canadian battalions entered the line near Pignatoro and pursued enemy forces as they retreated to the Hitler Line.
On May 23, the West Novas and their 11th CIB comrades were among the Canadian units that successfully pierced the Hitler Line’s defences. Two days later, the West Novas crossed the Melfa River as Allied forces pursued retreating enemy soldiers toward Rome. On May 26, the unit set up camp near Pontecorvo, having suffered 48 fatalities during its 10-day Liri Valley combat tour.
Private Lawrence Patrick MacPherson was part of a group of 91 “other rank” reinforcements that arrived in the West Novas’ camp on the evening of May 28, 1944. Three days later, the unit relocated to a camp in the Pofi region, along the banks of the Sacco River. On June 4, British and American forces liberated the Italian capital of Rome. Two days later, news of the Allied landings in Normandy raised hopes that an end to the war might be on the horizon.
On June 9, the entire 1st Canadian Division relocated to camps near the town of Piedimonte d’ Alife in the Volturno valley for an extended period of rest and training. Within one week of arriving in the area, Pat fell ill and was admitted to No. 9 Canadian Field Ambulance on June 15. Transferred to a second field ambulance the same day, he was evacuated to a casualty clearing station on June 22 and admitted to No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, Caserta, the following day.
Pat spent almost three weeks in hospital before military authorities sent a telegram to his wife Florence. Dated July 12, 1944, the message stated that Pat “had been officially reported seriously ill[,] diagnosis suffering from staphylococcal septicaemia,” a life-threatening infection that occurs when staph bacteria enters the bloodstream. Documents in Pat’s service file provide no information on how he may have developed this condition.
Three days after receiving the news, Florence wrote a brief letter to military authorities, stating that she had been in touch with her husband since his hospitalization: “I have had letters from him since he took sick. The last one [was written] June 30 and he did seem to be improving by his letters. Did my husband’s condition get worse after that time?”
Military authorities responded to Florence’s letter in a telegram dated August 1, 1944:
“Your husband… was first reported seriously ill on the 8th of July, 1944, which would be just over a week after his last letter to you. We have no additional information from the Overeas authorities… but in order that you may be kept constantly informed, we are today despatching a cable requesting further information.”
Florence subsequently received regular updates on Pat’s condition via telegram. An August 5 message stated that he was “still seriously ill[,] condition unchanged.” A second despatch three days later reported that while he was “still seriously ill,” his condition was “improving.” More than a month passed before a September 10 telegram informed Florence that Pat was now “officially reported dangerously ill.” Two messages sent later in the month indicated no change in his condition.
Private Lawrence Patrick MacPherson died of sickness in hospital on October 5, 1944. A post-mortem examination identified the cause of death as “multiple amoebic liver abscesses”—collections of pus in his liver—that develop in response to an intestinal parasite called “entamoeba histolytic.” The most common means of acquiring the parasite is through consumption of “fecally contaminated food or water.” Symptoms develop within two to four weeks, indicating that the infection had occurred in Italy. Dysentery, diarreah a variety of other health issues related to unsanitary conditions were common among soldiers who served in Italy.
On October 8, Florence received a telegram from the Department of National Defence (DND), informing her that her husband “has now been officially reported died fifth October 1944.” Pat was interred in the British Allied Cemetery, Caserta, Italy, three days after his death. The graveyard was later renamed Caserta Military Cemetery, one of many in Italy placed under the authority of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission after the end of hostilities.
Pat’s older brother Jerome Joseph “Jerry” completed his overseas service in Italy and Western Europe without injury. Upon returning home, he wrote to DND officials on February 20, 1946:
“I have just returned from overseas having been with my brother in Italy while serving with the West Nova Scotia Regiment [and] would like to know where his body is buried at the present and if it has been moved…. I am also quite interested in knowing if it is possible to get a map of the country in which he is buried.”
Military authorities quickly responded to Jerry’s inquiry, stating that Pat was interred in Caserta Military Cemetery, “a recognized military burial ground which will receive care and maintenance in perpetuity. A marked map is enclosed.”
In December 1949, Jerry became a permanent resident of the United States. One of his sisters, Helena Elizabeth, had moved there prior to Pat’s death, married and established residence in Ogden, Pennsylvania. Jerry settled in nearby Upper Chichester Township, where he married Myrtle Elaine Downie in 1956 and raised a family of two daughters. Jerry passed away there on April 2, 1990, and was interred in Lawn Croft Cemetery and Mausoleum, Linwood, PA.
Pat’s oldest brother David Alexander was also serving overseas with the Canadian army at the time of his death. No details are available on his service. Prior to enlisting, David married Margaret Elizabeth Ferguson, daughter of Samuel and Sara (Leet) Ferguson, North Riverside, Guysborough County, on September 2, 1940. David was working as a deck hand on the SS Harold, a Maritime Towing Company vessel, at the time of his marriage.
After returning from overseas, David was employed at Canada Post. He and Margaret raised a family of three children—one daughter and two sons—in their Halifax home. David passed away in Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, on January 11, 1987, and was laid to rest in Fairview Cemetery.
Pat’s mother Isabel MacPherson passed away on April 15, 1975, and was interred in St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cemetery beside her husband Alexander. Pat’s widow Florence married Victor Tompkins Shea, son of Patrick and Eva Johanna (Bates) Shea, Guysborough, on November 25, 1946. Victor had served overseas with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and was wounded in the Netherlands during the later months of the war.
Victor and Florence resided in Guysborough for a period to time, as Victor was employed at the Dickie’s Brook power plant. Work later took the couple to Head of St. Margaret’s Bay, Halifax County, where Victor worked in a nearby power plant. Over the years, Victor and Florence raised a family of six—three boys and three girls—into adulthood, while three other children—a son and two daughters—died in infancy. Florence Hall passed away at Head of St. Margaret’s Bay on February 1, 2006, and was interred in St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, Simms Settlement, Halifax County.
Special thanks to Private Lawrence Patrick MacPherson's son Alex, Halifax, NS, who provided a photograph of Pat and reviewed the MacPherson family information presented in this story.
