With Remembrance Day just around the corner it behooves us to recall those within our own community who served with great courage during World War II. Heroes came in all shapes and sizes, and not all carried guns or flew Spitfires.
Those who were part of the Canadian Field Ambulance Service are a fine example. Very often these angels of the battlefield undertook to administer to the medical needs of those wounded in action, dressing injuries and evacuating soldiers from the field of battle very often at risk of their own lives.
Pte. Harold “Red” Fromstein served with the Black Watch, Canada’s oldest Highland Regiment. Established in 1862 the Black Watch, out of Montreal where it still has its headquarters today, served gallantly in battles from the time of the Fenian raids in 1866 through to world wars I and II and even in modern time where it saw action in Afghanistan.
Born in Toronto, Pte. Fromstein moved as a young teenager with his family to Montreal. He and his brothers Lou and Albert were well known for their athletic abilities and were active with the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) there. When war broke out in 1939, the three brothers, like more than 17,000 other young Canadian Jews (fully 20 per cent of the entire Canadian male Jewish population of the time), enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces; Lou with the Canadian First Army, Albert with the RCAF and Harold with the Royal Highland Regiment of the Black Watch.
Pte. Fromstein was only 17 years old when he enlisted in August 1940 but so anxious was he to see action that he used his older brother’s name and papers to enlist.
He saw much action as a stretcher-bearer with his rifle company. In fact in July 1944 while serving in France he suffered bullet and fragment wounds. He was treated in a French medical unit within Nazi held territory and had to remain in hiding till the American troops captured the area.
A few months later, in February 1945, Pte. Fromstein found himself in what was probably one of the fiercest battles near the end of the war, the Battle of the Hochwald Gap in Germany. It was an immense tank battle where the German forces were now fighting a defensive war for their very survival. Though they knew the war was lost they were going to make the allies fight for every inch of the “Fatherland”.
At one point during this ferocious clash, a number of Canadian tanks and a large part of a rifle company were trapped and came under heavy machine gun and mortar fire. There were many casualties and movement forward was almost impossible.
Pte. Fromstein understood what he had to do. Oblivious to the gun and mortar fire, he scurried over to the wounded tending to their injuries.
Many had to be evacuated and it was up to Pte. Fromstein to make that happen. Disregarding his own safety, he organized the provision of stretchers to evacuate the gravely wounded. The tortuous path to safety extended over a mile of gun-infested trails and mortar fire. The heroic actions of Pte. Fromstein undoubtedly saved their lives.
As a result of his extreme courage under unspeakable battle conditions, he was awarded the Military Medal on June 5 1945.
The citation read in part: “This soldier’s exceptionally courageous acts, which were far in excess of his normal duty, definitely saved the lives of several of his comrades and not only earned him the admiration and respect of all ranks of his company but assisted greatly in maintaining the morale of his comrades at fighting pitch.”
Canadian Jews fought courageously for their country in large numbers. Pte. Harold “Red” Fromstein was among the 1,971 Canadian Jewish soldiers to receive military honours, more than 10 per cent of the entire Canadian Jewish fighting force.