Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt VC, ED was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Dieppe Raid in 1942.
18 Facts About Charles Merritt
1.
2.
Charles Merritt entered the Royal Military College of Canada, H1866 in 1925 at the age of 16 and graduated with honours.
3.
Charles Merritt was commissioned into the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in 1929.
4.
Charles Merritt read for the Bar and became a barrister in 1932.
5.
Charles Merritt practised law in Vancouver until mobilized at the outbreak of World War II.
6.
Charles Merritt served as an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada.
7.
Charles Merritt led his regiment in the Dieppe raid on 19 August 1942.
Related searches
Charles Cecil 8.
Charles Merritt's objectives were Pourville, west of the port, then the cliffs above the village.
9.
Charles Merritt's force crossed the Channel in Royal Navy destroyers, transferred to landing craft 10 miles offshore and reached Green Beach on time, in near darkness and unopposed.
10.
Charles Merritt's audacity took the enemy by surprise; one group of men followed him over the bridge and others used the girders to cross.
11.
Charles Merritt soon had most of his surviving men on the far bank, but shortage of mortar ammunition and lack of communications to the destroyers to call for supporting fire made any further advance impossible.
12.
Charles Merritt held on to an improvised perimeter nevertheless, and kept contact with his section positions by moving from one to another after his runners had been killed.
13.
Charles Merritt was sent to prison camp Oflag VII-B at Eichstatt in Bavaria.
14.
Charles Merritt was sentenced to 14 days' solitary confinement before being transferred to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle.
15.
In recognition of Charles Merritt being the Commanding Officer of The South Saskatchewan Regiment during Operation Jubilee, four streets in the Rosemont neighbourhood of Regina were named in his honour.
16.
Charles Merritt served on the board of directors of Mount Pleasant War Memorial Community Cooperative Association from 1950 to 1994.
17.
Charles Merritt became a valued rugby player for the Meraloma Rugby Club.
18.
LCol Charles Merritt died at the age of 91 in Vancouver on 12 July 2000.