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

Paul Dickson is a strategic analyst at the Directorate of Air Strategic
Plans, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa.

Private Harold Pringle was the only Canadian soldier executed during
World War II. Vindicating Pringle is Andrew Clark’s principal aim.
Though he falls just short of achieving that, he does raises a number of
questions about the case and about Pringle that may never be answered.

A Keen Soldier is a solid piece of investigative journalism, and
Clark’s interpretation of the story is a good one. But as a historian,
he adopts some questionable practices. The work is also autobiographical
in the sense that the author’s pursuit of Pringle’s story required
him to delve into the history of the Canadian army as it recruited and
trained thousands of citizen-soldiers and as it fought its way up the
Italian peninsula. Clark covers any topic that may shed light on
Pringle’s path from popular local boy from Northern Ontario, to
disillusioned (and underage) recruit, to first-class fighting machine,
to deserter and (possibly) murderer.

Pringle’s road to the firing squad is not straight and neither is
Clark’s as he searches for answers to the book’s primary question:
who was Harold Pringle and why was he executed? Or more importantly, why
was he the only soldier executed by the Canadian army during the war?
That take on the question is central to understanding the author’s
larger indictment of war and the military.

Clark coaxes a compelling story from the official records, from
sometimes-reluctant veterans, and from a variety of secondary sources.
He has reopened a case that was not so much officially ignored as
marginalized. There is no doubt the story is a sad one, but too often in
this story Clark extrapolates from others’ experiences and encounters
in order to fill in the blanks of Pringle’s story and to indict the
army.

Clark’s approach adds little to an understanding of the campaigns in
Italy, unless one has no understanding of the period. That said, by
relating the story as a voyage of discovering Canada’s wartime past,
he provides insights into how little Canadians actually know about that
period and raises enough questions about Pringle’s case to leave the
reader wondering what purpose the execution actually served. There are
therefore a number of good reasons to read this book.