Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Harvey
Lord Strathcona’s Horse

At this critical moment, when the enemy showed no intention whatever of retiring, and fire was still intense, Lt. Harvey, who was in command of the leading troops, ran forward well ahead of his men and dashed at the trench, skillfully manned, jumped the wire, shot the machine-gunner and captured the gun. His most courageous act undoubtedly had a decisive effect on the success of the operation.

(V.C. citation, 8 Jun 1917)

Born in Athboy, County Meath Ireland, on 1 September 1888, Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey worked as a rancher and surveyor after immigrating to Alberta at the age of twenty. In February 1915, he enlisted with the 13th Canadian Mounted Infantry before being commissioned over a year later. Overseas he transferred to the Lord Strathcona’s Horse in France as a lieutenant in November 1916. Initially awarded Distinguished Service Order for actions on 27 March 1917, his heroism was soon determined to merit the Victoria Cross.

Harvey further earned a Military Cross in the famous cavalry charge at Amiens on 31 March 1918, in which he was wounded. He remained with the LdSH as part of the Permanent Force after war, and was well-known in Calgary social circles as a ranch owner and polo player. In December 1938, he was elevated from command of “A” Squadron in Winnipeg to commanding officer of the whole regiment.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he was assigned as commandant of the training centre at the Currie Barracks. Succeeded by Major N.A. Gianelli in July 1940, Harvey was soon promoted to brigadier of No. 13 Military District (Calgary). “The British Empire is built upon tradition and it is that tradition that is making us grit our teeth today in this war,” he declared in a speech after the Fall of France. “But the only wat in which you can lay the foundation of tradition is by performance, by fine acts in your play and in your work–something for your successor to try and emulate.”

Writing to Harvey from the Italian theatre in May 1944, Lieutenant-Colonel P.G. Griffin described the Lord Strathcona’s experience in battle: “As you have no doubt seen by the papers all hell has broken loose out here …The Regt is in grand shape … It is fighting fit and rearing to go, I am extremely optimistic of the future.” He assured his predecessor, “I am damned proud to command it and know the old gang would be very proud of it, if they could see it now.”

His only son, Lieutenant Denis Frederick Harvey died of wounds in action with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in the Netherlands on 16 February 1945. After a thirty-year army career, Brigadier Harvey retired at the end of the year. He became Honorary Colonel of Lord Strathcona’s Horse from 1958 to 1966. Of his Victoria Cross, he stated that friends in Calgary “know it’s a bit of luck to get any decoration and I look on it the same way.”

He died in Fort Macleod, Alberta on 24 August 1980.