Harty, Donald Joseph

DONALD HARTY on July 5th, was instantly killed by a mine. This the only information received to date was reported by cable to the AFS. The message, brief as it was, spoke volumes for the courage and devotion of this ambulance driver. During his seventeen months of service overseas, Donald held an outstanding record on the desert and his ambulance was one of the first to make the hazardous crossing of the Gargliano River with the Fifth Army in Italy. He was admired and respected by all who knew him and he was always where the need was greatest. His death is a greet loss but his memory will always be cherished by those who had the privilege of knowing him and working with him.

__ AFS Letters No. 27

On the 15th, Lt. Mitchell recorded in the Company diary that the members of B Platoon across the Rapido had "attacked with the tanks, driving through the dust of the tank battle to evacuate patients during the action. Don Harty and Drayton Smith last night tried to reach the Black Watch, which had been surrounded just above Cassino. A German sentry told the Colonel in charge of the party that ambulances couldn't go through because of an attack being made to relieve the Black Watch. Later jeeps brought out patients to where the ambulances were waiting, and several trips with patients were made. (Apparently the Watch were able to keep a corridor open through which the jeeps could pass.)

__ George Rock. Chapter 9. "Italy 3. Cassino and the Break-Through to Rome (February to 6 June 1944)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.

During the hard fighting of early July, A Platoon had posts with the 6th South African and 4th British Divisions, as well as a number of artillery regiments. On the 3rd, D. J. Harty with the RAP of the Royal West Kents (4th Division) was captured by a patrol of German paratroopers in a s1tuation similar to the one in which he had found himself at Cassino. Before he could be taken through the lines, however, he was "recaptured" by a British tank. Two days later, northwest of S. Savino, he answered a call to pick up casualties a short distance away. The road had been in use for 24 hours, but about a quarter of a mile from the RAP his ambulance ran over a mine. The explosion instantly killed both Harty and his British orderly and demolished the ambulance. As the crater caused by the explosion required the services of a bulldozer to make the road again serviceable, it was thought that a box mine had been used as detonator for at least 4 large-caliber shells which went off simultaneously. The death of Donald Joseph Harty was a sad loss. Coming at a time when the whole Platoon was tired, it made the survivors unusually nervous.

__ George Rock. Chapter 10. "Italy 4. North to Florence (7 June to 25 August 1944)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.

During one of the critical stages of the battle, a medical Colonel asked for volunteers to accompany him into the German lines to assist an infantry regiment that had been cut off. Donald Harty and Drayton Smith offered to go. Flying Red Cross flags on their ambulances, they set off across the open fields into no-man's land.

__ AFS Letters No. 26

Don Harty was killed on July 5, 1944, about six miles north of Monte San Savino when the ambulance which he was driving hit a super-charged teller mine set by the Hun. He was one of my best friends, and his death brought me nearer to, and made me think more deeply on the subject of death than any other event in my life. Hence, this phantasy.

__ William P. Meleney "A Phantasy" in AFS Letters No. 35