Captain Norman Brooke Bell joined the 2nd Battalion 48th Highlanders in 1940 for training in Canada. He joined the 1st Battalion in the last week of July 1943 after the battle of Nissoria, Sicily. He was wounded in operation Morning Glory on 18 December when the battalion successfully outflanked The Gully, a major defensive position for the town of Ortona. Subsequently, he was appointed to a 1st Division Headquarters position and on Sept 2, 1944 arrived at the battalion with the orders for the 1st Brigade to begin the advance to Rimini from the Conca River on the Adriatic coast of Italy. In September 1945, he rejoined the battalion at Soest for the return to Toronto, Canada.
After the war, Norm Bell became a Director at Sunnybrook Hospital and was instrumental in the hospital’s decision to establish a Veteran’s Wing, which remains to this day. In his last years, Norm became a patient in the Veteran’s Wing for which he had play a pivotal role.