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Contact Info
Home Town North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Last Address Needham, Massachusetts Buried at Lakeview Cemetery, Wayland, Massachusetts.
Date of Passing Jan 29, 2002
Location of Interment Lakeview Cemetery - Wayland, Massachusetts
Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, he moved to the United States and served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army during WW II. He was an instructor in parachuting and explosives. On June 6, 1944, he was training troops at Camp MacKall North Carolina. A charge exploded in his hands, resulting in the loss of both hands. In 1946 he was in the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives", portraying a war veteran Homer Parrish, who had lost both hands in the Navy. For his role in the movie, he won TWO academy awards, one for best supporting actor, and a second special award for "bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures". Harold Russell was the only person to ever receive two academy awards for the same role. After the war, Russell wrote two books, served three tours as national commander of AMVETS and worked as a major advocate for disabled veterans. The top annual award of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities is called The Harold Russell Medal. Mr. Russell became so adept with the hooks that replaced his hands, that he would often joke that he could do anything but pick up a dinner check with them.
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.