PRIOR, Arthur William

NAME             PRIOR          Arthur William
RANK             Private          11142 
                       I Canadian Corps - 5th Canadian Armoured Division - 11th Infantry Brigade                                    REGIMENT    Perth Regiment
                       “bold and wary”
                       Royal Canadian Infantry Corp                                                                                            Residence      Hensall - Ontario                                                                                                                                Born               November 17, 1916 - London - Suffolk - England                                                                              Died               January 17, 1944          27 years   2 months
Cemetery       Moro River Canadian War Cemetery - San Donato – Ortona - Chieti - Italy
                       IV     B     3
Wife                Mrs. Muriel Clemens (Prior) - Seaforth / London / St Catherines - Ontario                                    Son                 L. Arthur Prior - St Catherines - Ontario
Parents           Mr. William and Catherine Prior - St. Catherines

Arthur was born in London, England on November 27, 1916 and then after the First World War the family
emigrated to Canada and Huron County. He was raised Anglican and would have attended St Paul's  Anglican Church in Hensall where he resided at the time of his enlistment.

Canada

Arthur travelled from Seaforth to Stratford on September 12, 1939 and enlisted into the Canadian Army. He could possibly have been the first to enlist from Huron County which was two days following Canada declaring war against Germany. At the time he enlisted he stood 5' 5" and he weighed 128 pounds. He had a medium complexion with hazel eyes and brown hair. He enlisted into the Perth Regiment of the Canadian Active Service Force.                                                                                                                                                                      He began his training in Stratford and between March 19-April 2, 1940 he received furlough. He was a patient at Stratford General Hospital with Influenza between November 27-December 4.                                                Private Prior was posted to Hamilton Camp and received furlough between March 17-31,1941. In August he qualified as a driver Class III for both tracked and wheeled vehicles. In the first week of September he was Taken on Strength with the Perth Regiment.

Overseas

He was Struck off Strength of the Canadian Army in Canada and embarked Canada from Halifax on October 5, 1941. The next day he was Taken on Strength with the Canadian Army overseas. The Perths landed in the UK at Liverpool on October 19. Early in November he received five days landing leave.                                        Early in March 1942 he received Privileged leave. Between May 17-June 3 he was attached to Canadian Military Headquarters. He received privileged leave of a week in June, October and November.                            Training was continuing into 1943 and he was attached to the Headquarters of the 11th Infantry Brigade between May 23-30. From June 12-19 he attended a Battle Inoculation Course.

In the Field                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                All the training was complete in Canada and the United Kingdom when he was Struck off Service of the Canadian Army in the UK and embarked for the Mediterranean Theatre on October 26. He and the Perths disembarked in Italy on November 8.                                                                                                                      The objective on January 17, 1944 was the Arielli River and a blown bridge and the Perths were about to see their first action. The Perths were ordered to follow a rough trail and cross the Riccio River and then climb steeply to the Tollo road and push to enemy to the Arielli and to seize a series of strong points along & beyond the Tollo Road. Then they were to push down the Arielli Valley and move the Allied positions onto the Fondo Ridge. They were to attack along a narrow front and the initial artillery bombardment support  would begin at 5:30 pm and be from one heavy, five medium and nine field regiments and would lay down a lifting barrage along with counter battery fire on suspected enemy positions along with smoke to blind the German observers. The Perths were told that this supporting barrage would obliterate the enemy positions.
At 03:30 hours near Ortona the Regiment had their breakfast. At 05:30 they crossed the start line with “C & A” Companies leading and “B & D” Companies following and they followed the barrage. The German artillery and mortars replied immediately with heavy and deadly fire.                                                                                        “C” Companies objective was the road junction and they reached this at 07:30 hours. They had gone too far out and the Company had only 9 men as the rest of the men had run into machine gun and rifle fire. As well the 11th Infantry Brigade had the support of the 12th Armoured Brigade to provide the maximum tank support.           “A” Squadron of the tanks was assigned to the Perths, but the tanks could not move forward because of enemy anti-tank mines, but instead took up a position on the crest of a ravine overlooking the river and to take out enemy positions. “C” Company moved down the trail into the Riccio Valley from the west to the ford in the river where they dug in and remained all day. They were pinned down as well from machine gun fire coming from a house about 250 yards away and the men sent to silence this threat were killed. The company was split but one group finally silenced the enemy position and following that they repelled two enemy attempts to move them from the house. Private Prior had been a member of “C” Company.
 At 11:00 am “D” Company was ordered to relieve the pressure on “C” Company but could not and had to
withdraw due to heavy enemy fire. Artillery support was called for to assist “D” Company getting to “C”
Company. Finally both companies dug in together. Private Prior was last seen at 13:05 hours in the middle of the road. He had been assigned to mortar command and as he was bringing the mortar into action he was struck by machine gun fire. He was killed immediately.                                                                                            “B & D” Companies attempted to reach their objectives but were unable to and late in the afternoon “D” Company followed a creeping barrage, crossed the river and joined up with “C” company. Together they moved up the hill to within 200 yards of their objective. During the morning, supporting fire was called for and in the early afternoon the situation had not improved and advancing was very difficult, but they found that holding their position was just as difficult due to the heavy and accurate German artillery / mortar fire.
Later in the day they tried again to reach the Tollo road objectives with artillery and smoke cover, and as
they entered the valley and ran toward the Riccio they ran into and became engulfed in the tail end of the
Allied artillery barrage but again they failed to cross the Tollo Road to their objective. Never once during
this day of hell and blood did the Perth Regiment break or retreat.
During this day of fighting, the Perths had lost 130 men. The reason for this heavy loss was a lack of communication, poor maps, a disjointed battle plan and inexperienced infantry. Private Prior was a member of “C” Company. Private Prior was originally buried at the Ortona road junction along the Tollo Road.                                                                                                                                                                                                          On September 11, 1944 the Memorial Cross was sent to his wife and later in November of 1949, Private Prior was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the Italy Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal + clasp. In November of 1955 Private Prior's son Arthur asked for and received the medals of his father.
                                                                                                                                                                                   Arthur his honoured and remembered on the Memorial Plaque of St Paul's Anglican Church in Hensall and on the Hensall Cenotaph. He is honoured and remembered on the Perth Regiment Memorial in Stratford and on the Virtual Canadian War Memorial.