Harold Joseph Pringle (14 January 1920 - 5 July 1945) was the only soldier of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Pringle was born in the small hamlet of

Flinton, Ontario Flinton is a hamlet in and the seat of the municipality of Addington Highlands, Lennox and Addington County in Eastern Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the At ...

, near

Napanee Greater Napanee is a town in Eastern Ontario, southeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston and the county seat of Lennox and Addington County. It is located on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte. Greater Nap ...

. He and his father tried to enlist in

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 33 Canadian Brigade Group, one of four brigade groups of 4th Canadian Division. The regimental headquarters and one co ...

of the Canadian Army. On medical examination, he was accepted, but his father was turned away due to poor eyesight. Harold Pringle was formally enrolled in the army in February, 1940, aged 20. Pringle was a disciplinary problem for his unit, going

AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...

many times, and he was sent to a reformatory camp for a year. He escaped after serving six months there and was sent to Italy where he was posted to the 1st Battalion, The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, as a private with the service number C/5292. Pringle's combat record after the escape was unblemished until after the battle for the

Hitler Line The Hitler Line was a German defensive line in central Italy during the Second World War. The strong points of the line were at Piedmonte, Pontecorvo and Aquino. In May 1944, the line was renamed the Senger Line, after General von Senger und E ...

in central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, when he deserted to Rome to join the Sailor Gang. The Sailor Gang, though only five members strong, was similar to the larger and better organized Lane Gang—both gangs were made up of military deserters who smuggled goods into Rome for the

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

. The members of the Sailor Gang lived pleasantly for many months, but then things started going downhill. They were almost always drunk, got into fights, and made rash decisions, to the point where one of their members shot another. They tried to take him to the local field hospital, and all of his gang (except one who was given immunity for his testimony at their trials) alleged that he died on the way, claiming also that Pringle and the gang leader shot the man after he was dead several times so it would look like a Mafia killing. The dead gang member, a Canadian soldier named John (Lucky) McGillivary, was discovered and police apprehended almost all the members of the Sailor Gang, along with the members of the similar, but larger, Lane Gang. The various gang members were tried, and Pringle was sentenced to death for murder. An appeal against the decision was rejected. On 5 July 1945, Pringle was executed by a Canadian Army firing squad. He was buried in grave number 11, row B, plot VII at

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Camp ...

CWGC The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...

Cemetery in

.CWGC :Casualty Details
at www.cwgc.org

References

Bibliography

* Clark, Andrew (2002) ''A Keen Soldier: the Execution of Second World War Private Harold Joseph Pringle'' Alfred A. Knopf, Canada, Toronto, * Madsen, Chris (1999) ''Another Kind of Justice: Canadian Military Law from Confederation to Somalia'' UBC Press, Vancouver, {{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Harold 1945 deaths Canadian Army soldiers Executed Canadian people Military history of Canada People executed by Canada by firing squad Military discipline and World War II Canadian Army personnel of World War II People executed for murder People who were court-martialed 20th-century executions by Canada People convicted of murder by Canada Canadian people convicted of murder Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment 1920 births