Sunday, October 30

Sergeant Harold Marshall - Canadian Sniper





Harold A. Marshall was a Canadian scout and sniper sergeant who served in the Second World War with the Calgary Highlanders' Scout and Sniper Platoon.

On 30 January 1942 the Hamilton Spectator mentioned him in an article about ongoing training simulations the Highlanders were engaged in at an undisclosed location in England.

He was wounded on 15 December 1944.
The well-known photograph shown here was taken by Army photographer Ken Bell of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unitnear Fort Brasschaat in Belgium in September 1944. He is carrying a Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 (T) and wears a modified version of the Denison smock. Other equipment includes a No. 36M grenade and a camouflage face veil worn as a head covering. The handle of a Kukri can be seen above his belt at his left side.

In 1973, he was profiled again for Bell's commemorative book Not in Vain, which showed him as a curling enthusiast back in Calgary.


Lieutenant-Colonel D.G. MacLauchlan speaks with scouts Corporal S. Kormendy and Sergeant H.A. Marshall, Kapellen, Belgium, 6 October 1944.

Corporal Steven Kormendy and Sergeant Harold Marshall pose for photographer Ken Bell in Belgium on 
6 October 1944. Kormendy had been wounded on 26 August 1944; 
Marshall would be hit on December 15th.