Harry James Tolfree was the son of Harry and Nellie Peters Tolfree of Toronto, Ontario. He was the second child of five in the family of three boys and two girls. He was married to Eleanor and working as a carpenter when he enlisted in the 8th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers at Camp Borden on 12 August 1940.
Harry started training with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, but almost immediately spent ten days in the hospital after breaking two ribs playing baseball. In October, he was granted trades pay as a Carpenter Group ‘C’ based on his experience and a trades test. The 8th Field Company moved the Camp Petawawa on 1 January 1941 and continued training. Harry completed a two-week small arms course at Long Branch, Ontario and on return to Petawawa, was granted trades pay as a Carpenter Group ‘B’.
In April 1941, the 8th Field Company underwent a reorganization and became the 3rd Battalion, RCE. Still well under its authorized strength, the Battalion was renamed the 4th Battalion, RCE in July. The three-company battalion set sail for the United Kingdom in September and was immediately absorbed into the Works Programme on arrival. They spent much of the next year and a half coming up to strength and working on base construction tasks, road building and defence works across the south of England. Harry's company completed a month-long Heavy Bridge course at the Railway Collective Training Centre, Weston-on-Trent, near Derby. When the 4th Battalion reorganized to form II Corps Troops Engineers in May 1943, Harry’s company was re-designated the 29th Field Company. While employed primarily on building and construction tasks, the 4th Battalion had already started training for this new role in January 1942.
They arrived in Normandy in late June 1944 and completed a myriad of tasks during the Battle of Normandy, especially in and around Caen. One platoon was detached the Corps HQ for most of the time, while the remaining two platoons built rafts and bridges on the Orne River and its canals and quays. An especially interesting task was a 150-foot Class 9 single-single Bailey bridge from one quay to another over the Orne Canal. The 23rd Field Company replaced that bridge with the triple-double Class 40 ‘Reynolds’ bridge two weeks later.
After the Normandy Breakout, the company continued moving forward with II Corps. They bridged the Somme and the Seine, and built more bridges and cleared routes along the coast and into the Low Countries. In October, they supported the 3rd Division’s amphibious attack into the Breskens Pocket working from the Terneuzen area. They then supported the 52nd (Lowland) Division’s amphibious assault over the Scheldt and into South Beveland Island.
The assault started in the early morning darkness of 26 October. The sappers landed before 0500 hours. Number 1 Platoon landed on Amber Beach and Number 3 Platoon landed on Green Beach. The LVTs started off-loading men and stores, and the infantry rapidly moved inland, outflanking the Beveland Canal defences. The sappers on Amber Beach saw little of the Beveland. For the rest of the month, they lived in holes in the dike and maintained the dike-crossings and beach-tracks, and manhandled engineer stores ashore. Around the corner on Green beach, the story was different for 3 Platoon. The site came under fire from the start. Lance-Sergeant Gale and Sappers Tolfree and Whillier were killed and six others wounded during one ‘stonk’. While the platoon was working to prepare a ramp for a Terrapin ambulance, two other sappers were wounded. Continued fire made Green beach useless and after 1040 hours it was closed. The sappers were finally evacuated at 1500 hours with the last of the wounded on the last vehicle. The beach was abandoned
Sapper Harry James Tolfree was temporarily buried in Bearland in South Beveland and later transferred to Bergen Op Zoom Canadian War Cemetery. He had served 1537 days and was 26 years old. Harry's younger brother Jack also served in the RCE, while younger brother George served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
