Allan Clifford Fyfe was born on St. Josephs Island, ON in 1923. He was living in Sault Ste. Marie, ON when he was conscripted for home service on 20 November 1940. He had been working after school in his brother’s furnace business as a truck driver and tinsmith. His enrollment papers attest to his skills in air conditioning and motor mechanics.
Allan volunteered for active service in February 1943 and was assigned to the Royal Canadian Engineers. After training in Petawawa and qualifying as a Group B Tinsmith, he was posted overseas arriving in the UK on 24 February 1944 where he joined the 7th Battalion, RCE. Sapper Fyfe arrived in Italy in May 1944. The 10th Field Squadron was near Rome after the Liri Valley battles, preparing to conduct assault training for the 5th Armoured Division when he was posted there in June.
The Squadron continued in the advance through Florence and later moved across the Apennines to the Adriatic front. Along the way, they were engaged in building and repairing bridges and roads, clearing mines and bobby traps and training hard whenever they were out of action. By early September 1944, they were fully engaged in the Gothic Line battle advancing, conducting route reconnaissance and clearing obstacles.
Tragedy struck while they were preparing for the assault on Coriano Ridge on the morning of 11 September. Harry with other members of 1 Troop were having breakfast in shifts near a kitchen truck. A stray shell hit the kitchen tent causing 28 casualties – six killed outright, three seriously wounded who later died of wounds, and 11 seriously injured. Harry was one of those killed outright.
Sapper Allan Clifford Fyfe is buried in Gradara War Cemetery. He was 21 years old. Allan and his uncle William Clifford Fyfe are both commemorated on the cenotaph in Sault Ste-Marie, ON. William served in France in the Saskatchewan Regiment during the First World War and is buried in the Aulnoy Communal Cemetery in Nord, France.