Initially educated in Philadelphia, the family moved to Montreal when Harrison was still young. He left school to work for the Montreal Star newspaper when he was sixteen. After the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted with the 244thOverseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was initially sent to England for further training. He then transferred to the Royal Montreal Regiment in order to see action and was sent to the Western Front. After numerous actions, Harrison was wounded in the foot at the Battle of Amiens. He returned to Montreal and managed a movie theater for a time before moving to New York City. In 1928, he began serializing his war novel, Generals Die in Bed, in various periodicals, however, it wasn't until the work appeared in book form in 1930 that it really became a success. The book became an international best-seller and allowed Harrison some financial freedom. He went on to produce more novels and non-fictional works with a limited amount of success, including A Child is Born (1931), Clarence Darrow 91931), There Are Victories (1933), Meet Me On the Barricades (1937), Nobody's Fool (1948) and the prophetic Thank God for My Heart Attack (1949). |
