Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R., the reverse officially inscribed ‘Lieut. A. Shortt. M-C.’, good very fine £100-£140

M.C. London Gazette 21 December 1916:
‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. When his company was held up, with five men he succeeded in bombing a machine gun and putting it out of action. Later, he returned across “No Man’s Land” under heavy fire in daylight to give information on the situation.’

Edward Allen Low Shortt was born at Arrochar, Staten Island, New York, on 17 April 1896. He married Marie Crevalin Clark at Kingston, Ontario on 16 February 1916 and the same year embarked for the Western Front, having accepted a commission in the Central Ontario Regiment, despite being due to matriculate at Harvard in 1917. Lieutenant Shortt was awarded the M.C. and later reported missing in action during a raid on the German trenches on 10 December 1916. He was later confirmed killed in action on this date.

The following article appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe on 04 February 1917:
‘Harvard ‘17 Man Falls in to Hands of the Germans on the British Front on Dec 10.
Reports come to Cambridge that Allen Shortt, Harvard ‘17, has been captured by the Germans during recent fighting on the British front on Dec 10, 1916. At that time he was among the long list of British missing and as he had not been heard from since, the British authorities were compelled to report him as among the prisoners.
Shortt has won a reputation since he enlisted and went to the front with the British forces. A month after reporting for service, Shortt was awarded the Military Cross for marked bravery in action. During one battle in particular, Shortt, alone, put a German machine gun out of action and in another he crossed “no man’s land” carrying information under a heavy fire, the German bullets grazing his body, cutting one place the leather strap of his equipment.’

Shortt has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France.