Arthur Leyland Harrison

Harrison was born in Torquay, Devon, and educated at Brockhurst Preparatory School, where he is remembered every Armistice Day and at Dover College.

Immediately before coming alongside the Mole Lieut.-Commander Harrison was struck on the head by a fragment of a shell which broke his jaw and knocked him senseless.

The silencing of the guns on the Mole head was of the first importance, and though in a position fully exposed to the enemy's machine-gun fire Lieut.-Commander Harrison gathered his men together and led them to the attack.

Lieut.-Commander Harrison, though already severely wounded and undoubtedly in great pain, displayed indomitable resolution and courage of the highest order in pressing his attack, knowing as he did that any delay in silencing the guns might jeopardise the main object of the expedition, i.e., the blocking of the Zeebrugge-Bruges Canal.

[7] His mother Adelaide Ellen Harrison, who lived in Wimbledon, London, received the VC and in 1967 relatives donated it to the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon where it is on public display.

Zeebrugge Memorial. Inscription reads:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
AND IN MEMORY OF
THESE THREE OFFICERS
AND ONE MECHANIC OF THE ROYAL NAVY
WHO FELL ON THE MOLE AT ZEEBRUGGE
ON ST GEORGE'S DAY 1918 AND HAVE
NO KNOWN GRAVE
WING COMMANDER BROCK F. A. O.B.E.
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER HARRISON A. L. V.C.
LIEUTENANT HAWKINGS C.E.V.
MECHANIC SECOND CLASS F/50269 ROUSE J.