Company Sergeant Major Harold Elsom, 'P' Troop, was gravely wounded during operations in the Waspik sector of the Maas River front. He was evacuated to the UK but succumbed to his wounds 9 days later at the RAF Hospital, Wroughton, Wiltshire. Son of Edward Eleazor Elsom and Jessie Vera Elsom; husband of Beryl Elsom, of Weymouth.
His Commando had been ordered to maintain forward positions on the small island of Kapelsche Veer which lies between the River Maas and the River Oudermaas. Whilst evacuating casualties from a patrol, several phosphorous grenades in equipment that he was picking up exploded.