A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Second World War Private Harold Pringle

Clark, Andrew

ISBN 10: 067697354X / ISBN 13: 9780676973549

Published by Knopf Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2002

About this Item

352 Pages Illus.

Seller Inventory # 047120

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Second World War Private Harold Pringle
• Publisher: Knopf Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067697354X
• ISBN 13: 9780676973549
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

When award-winning journalist Andrew Clark found the file on Harold Joseph Pringle, he uncovered a Canadian tragedy that had lain buried for fifty years. This extraordinary story of the last soldier to be executed by the Canadian military -- likely wrongfully -- gives life to the forgotten casualties of war and brings their honour home at last.

Harold Pringle was underage when the Second World War broke out, eager to leave quiet Flinton, Ontario, to serve by his father’s side. But few who volunteered to fight “the good fight” realized what horror lay ahead; soon Pringle found himself in Italy, fighting on the bloody “Hitler Line,” where two-thirds of his company were killed. Shell-shocked, he embarked on a tragic, final course that culminated in a suspect murder conviction.

His appeal was reviewed by the highest levels of government, right up to prime minister King. But Private Pringle was put to death -- the only soldier the Canadians executed in the whole of the Second World War. His own countrymen carried out the orders, forbidden to go home before completing this last grotesque assignment, even though the war had ended. The Pringle file was closed and stayed that way for fifty years -- until Andrew Clark uncovered it and began a two-year investigation on Pringle’s life in the army.

A Keen Soldier is a true-life military detective story that shows another side of what many consider our proudest military campaign. Andrew Clark examines the fallout of a crisis that disfigured our national conscience and continues to raise questions about the ethics of war. And he does so with eloquence and a deep compassion, not only for his subject but for all wartime soldiers -- even the men who executed Pringle and the officer who gave the order to fire.

About the Author

Andrew Clark is a respected freelance writer and the recipient of a National Magazine Awards’ Gold Medal. His work has most recently appeared in The New York Times and on CBC Radio. He lives in Toronto and is currently working on a documentary for the National Film Board of Canada.