Killed when his jeep hit a mine as he was coming forward to take command of Charlie Company during advance to Twello from the crossing of the Ijssel River at Wilp, The Netherlands.
Harold James McCutcheon was born in Toronto on 18 December 1909. As a youth he attended Davenport High School. Before the war he was a stock trader with the CC Fields Company on Bay St. and lived at 1029 St Clair Ave West, beside what is now Oakwood Collegiate Institute, and then at 34 Sussex Drive, near Bloor and Spadina. He was married to Ruth Ann McCutcheon, who moved from Toronto to Colborne, Ontario during the war. Colborne is about halfway between Toronto and Kingston, on the shores of Lake Ontario. Together they had two sons, Richard and William.
He attested to the 48th Highlanders of Canada on 27 May 1940 as a Second Lieutenant and was promoted to Lieutenant only 3 months later. At 32 years of age, he would have been older than most of his fellow recruits and this, along with the fact that he could boast of two years prior service as a Cadet with the Governor General’s Body Guard (G.G.B.G) likely factored into his rapid promotion. By the end of October 1942 he was a Captain.
As “D-Day Dodgers”, the 48th Highlanders of Canada had conducted a long and illustrious Italian campaign, which started with Op HUSKY way back in July of 1943. In February of 1945, Op GOLDFLAKE had brought the Regiment to northwest Europe via France and Germany, and by April the stage was set for their participation in the liberation of northeastern Netherlands as part of the 1st Infantry Brigade (1st Canadian Division) in Op CANNONSHOT.
The 48th Highlanders’ War Diary records that 12 April 1945 had been a warm and sunny day in Wilp. Very early the next morning, Capt Harold McCutcheon, who was safely back at F-Echelon, was ordered forward to take command of Charlie Company. In darkness, he started up the road from Wilp to Twello, a road whose surface had been swept for mines, but not the shoulders. As the jeep he was in turned onto the traveled surface, it hit a mine and was blown apart. Capt McCutcheon was killed instantly.
As is so often the case in war, the tragedy was compounded, because McCutcheon’s driver was Pte Bert Gunter, who had been LCol Donald Mackenzie’s driver for months. Cpl Gunter was still mourning the loss of his Commanding Officer, killed by shelling just the day before, when he too was blown to pieces along with Capt McCutcheon.
Captain Harold James McCutcheon is remembered as a “born leader of men” and a dependable and resolute officer with long service to the 48th Highlanders of Canada. Captain McCutcheon’s service in Italy stands as testament to his leadership. In late 1944, during the campaign beyond the Lamone River, he commanded Charlie Company in a critical advance that extended the battalion’s bridgehead by over 1,000 yards—placing his company at the very apex of the front. His decisive action in harsh conditions contributed to the regiment’s successful foothold.