Harry John Anaka was 21 when he enlisted in the army. According to his attestation sheet, his Service number was M31787. But the number on the sheet was crossed out. According to his military file, he joined in 1940 as a Private but did not go overseas.
In November 1941 he was admitted to a hospital in Nanaimo, BC for appendicitis. He was released from the hospital in mid-December and furloughed until 15 January 1942.
In July 1942 he was made an Acting L/Cpl and embarked on a series of challenges including qualifying as a 1st Class Marksman, graduating from a Tracked Vehicle course and getting married.
By February 1943 he was still in B.C. but he was now a Lance Sergeant. On 15 June 1943, he was appointed to the rank of Provisional Second Lieutenant.
On 7 February 1944, he was made a full Lieutenant and proceed overseas on 5 April 1944. When he arrived in the UK he was posted to the 7th Bn. Royal Hampshire Regiment and was raised to the rank of Acting Captain. He finally entered the fray on 19 June 1944 when he embarked for “NW Europe”. According to the “Hamps” website, the 7th landed in Normandy and fought up to Netherlands where they took part in the extraction of almost 2,400 U.S 1st Airborne Division from Arnhem at the end of Operation Market Garden on 9 September 1944.
It is not clear what actions involved Captain Harry Anaka, from Nanaimo, B.C, but he was killed on 4 October 1944 and is buried at Mook War Cemetery in the Netherlands.
One of the more interesting aspects of Captain Anaka’s file is that except on the original attestation sheet where his service number is crossed out. There is no service number on any of his following forms until the notification of his death when his number became Can.123. (The notification wrongly lists his KIA in France but was corrected later to note Holland.) Anaka’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission record reads CAN/123.
