Major Roger Joseph Leon Carroll

Roger Carroll has a limited connection to Paris, Ontario, but his story needs to be told. He was not even born in Canada. He was born on January 9, 1911, in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the son of Irenee and Laura Carroll. Laura died in February, 1928 at 42 years of age. Roger had four brothers who were born in Canada as well as another brother and four sisters. In 1916, the family moved to Brantford, where Irenee worked at the Niagara Silk Factory as a foreman. He later worked at the Bodega Hotel, at the corner of Market and Dalring Streets, which was destroyed by fire in 1962. Roger’s older brother Norman worked at the Cockshut Plow Company where he helped to make war parts during the Second World War.

Roger attended school in Brantford and graduated from Brantford Collegiate. He was a good athlete in high school and continued to play baseball, rugby and basketball after graduating. He worked at the Hurley Printing Company. In 1935, he enlisted with the Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles and earned the rank of Lieutenant in 1936. On June 1, 1940, Roger enlisted with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI). Two weeks later, he married Evelyn Cecilia Moriarity of Paris, and they lived, though Roger very briefly, at 64 Main Street in Paris.

He went overseas with his unit in July, 1940, to Scotland first, then to Aldershot in England. He was promoted there to the rank of Captain. Roger returned to Canada in October, 1943 where he was assigned a position of instructor at Camp Ipperwash, where he was promoted to Acting Major. He became a full major in 1943 at Camp Borden and returned overseas. On November 4, 1944, he rejoined the RHLI, which had just fought in the Battle of the Scheldt, one of a series of major battles following D-Day as Allied troops continued to push German troops from the Netherlands.

The RHLI took part in Operation Veritable, which erupted on February 8 with massive artillery fire. It was the largest attack ever made from Dutch territory. Operation Veritable was part of a larger plan, the Rhineland Offensive, to capture the left flank of the Rhine, cross the Rhine and advance further into Germany. The regiment moved in the direction of Nijmegen on February 12, though without Major Carrol, who had been hospitalized due to illness. He returned to the unit on March 6 and once again took command of the B Company. On Thursday, March 8, 1945 the RHLI were ordered to attack the German town of Xanten, which was heavily defended. Major Roger Joseph Carroll was killed in action on March 8, 1945, when his battalion of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry was taking part in a large-scale attack on Xanten, Germany. As Officer Commanding "B" Company, Major Carroll's objective was to secure part of the town to prevent enemy ferry service across the Rhine. He was instantly killed by shell fire, just before this goal was attained, but his courage and gallantry had such an inspirational effect on everyone with him, that his company went on, in spite of fierce resistance, to successfully take their objective. 

Major Roger Carroll is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, near the Dutch town of Nijmegen, close to the German border. His wife Evelyn remarried at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in 1950 and moved to Galt with her second husband.