Harry Garnet Bedford Miner

Harry Garnet Bedford Miner was born in Cedar Springs, Ontario, on 24 June 1891, the son of John and Sarah Orpha Miner. Raised in rural southwestern Ontario, he attended school in Selton and Highgate before working as a farmer. He also spent time in Ohio and Detroit before returning to Canada. Veterans Affairs Canada confirms his birth at Cedar Springs and identifies John and Sarah Orpha Miner as his parents.

Miner enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at London, Ontario, on 1 December 1915. He was assigned service number 823028 and initially served with the 142nd Battalion. He later passed through the 161st Battalion before being sent to France as a reinforcement for the 58th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. The 58th formed part of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division. His service record confirms his progression through these units before he joined the 58th Battalion in late 1916.

During the night of 30 to 31 December 1917, near Lens, France, Miner led a wiring party working in front of the Canadian positions. Despite sustained enemy fire, he maintained control of his men and kept the party at work for approximately seven hours. His leadership, determination and energy during this hazardous operation earned him the French Croix de Guerre. Later archival evidence described his decoration as the Croix de Guerre with Palm Leaf, indicating the palm represented on his surviving medal entitlement.

By February 1918, Miner had been promoted to corporal. On 8 August 1918, the opening day of the Battle of Amiens and the beginning of Canada's Hundred Days, the 58th Battalion advanced near Demuin, France. During the attack, Miner encountered an enemy machine-gun position that was holding up the Canadian advance. Acting alone, he charged the position, killed the crew and turned the captured machine gun against the retreating enemy. Veterans Affairs Canada records the same sequence of events in its official account of his Victoria Cross action.

Although wounded, Miner refused to withdraw. Later, accompanied by two comrades, he attacked a second machine-gun position and helped put its weapon out of action. He then advanced alone against an enemy bombing post, bayoneted two of its defenders and drove the remainder from the position. During this final assault, he suffered wounds that proved fatal. He died later that day at the age of 27.

For his extraordinary bravery and refusal to abandon the attack despite his wounds, Miner was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The award appeared in the London Gazette, No. 30975, on 26 October 1918. His citation declared:

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack, when despite severe wounds he refused to withdraw. He rushed an enemy machine-gun post single-handed, killed the entire crew and turned the gun on the enemy. Later, with two others, he attacked another enemy machine-gun post, and succeeded in putting the gun out of action. Cpl. Miner then rushed single-handed an enemy bombing post, bayoneting two of the garrison and putting the remainder to flight. He was mortally wounded in the performance of this gallant deed.

Miner was buried in Crouy British Cemetery, Crouy-sur-Somme, France, Plot V, Row B, Grave 11. This is the current grave reference recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. His posthumous Victoria Cross and French Croix de Guerre were later presented to his father, John Miner, by Brigadier-General L. W. Shannon at London, Ontario, on 28 March 1919.

His reconstructed medal entitlement consists of the Victoria Cross, British War Medal 1914-1920, Victory Medal and French Croix de Guerre with Palm. The Victoria Cross is preserved on permanent loan at the Huron County Museum in Goderich, Ontario, while surviving historical records also associate his Croix de Guerre with the family and Royal Canadian Legion custody. The whereabouts of his two campaign medals are not established by the available museum record. Miner was not entitled to the 1914-15 Star because his service did not place him in an operational theatre before the qualifying period ended on 31 December 1915.

Corporal Harry Garnet Bedford Miner's actions at Amiens represented courage in its most determined form. Severely wounded and repeatedly exposed to enemy fire, he continued attacking one fortified position after another until he was mortally wounded. His Victoria Cross and French Croix de Guerre with Palm commemorate a record of leadership, self-sacrifice and conspicuous bravery during some of the Canadian Corps' hardest fighting of the First World War. The official Canadian record remembers him as a soldier who refused to withdraw despite severe wounds and continued his attack until the action cost him his life.