Harold William Ball, from Monterey, California, had been living in Canada since 1937 when he enlisted in the Canadian Officers Training Corps as a student at at the University of British Columbia in 1942. He graduated in 1944 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Engineers and sent to serve in Northwest Europe. He received a Mention in Dispatches recognising gallant and courageous service in March 1945.
Harold stayed in the Army after the war and in October 1951, then-Major Ball took command of the 57th Field Squadron in Korea. The Squadron completed its Korean service in May 1952 and returned to Canada. He receive the Canadian Forces Decoration in 1954. After leaving the Army, he moved back to California.
Harold William Ball died in Santa Barbara, California on 17 December 2001 at the age of 82 years.
Major Ball was Officer Commanding 57 Canadian Independent Field Squadron under the operational command of 28 Field Engineer Regiment during the period 1 January 1952 to 1 May 1952. Throughout this time Major Ball by untiring zeal and devotion to duty has maintained and even increased the efficiency of what was already a very good squadron. From January until March, Major Ball directed two major road construction projects in the divisional area and ran a most successful divisional logging camp producing over fifty thousand lengths of timber for field defences in little over a month. Owing to the altitude of one project the ground was permanently frozen two feet deep. This and the extreme cold and the shortage of plant made road construction extremely difficult. In order to complete the other project, work was continuous for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four in bitter cold and often in snow flurries. By good organization and tireless supervision, all difficulties were foreseen and overcome and both projects were completed on time. From March until the end of May, Major Ball and his squadron extensively improved the road [illegible in Xerox] Brigade area while keeping all main routes open in spite of extensive frost damage. This entailed moving over one thousand tons of stone per day, for days on end, at a time when his squadron was being simultaneously relieved troop by troop. Major Ball's contribution to the engineer work carried out by the regiment has been exceptionally meritorious.”
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