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In memory of:

Sergeant Benoit Bernier

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Military service

Service number: E/4023
Age: 30
Rank: Sergeant
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Division: H.Q. Coy.
Birth: January 9, 1913 Quebec, Québec
Death: January 8, 1944 Ortona, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: X. A. 7.
Additional information
Son of Ulric Onésiphore Bernier and Georgiana Thibault of Québec, Québec. Hustand of Doris Rose Surbey from Rustington, Sussex, England. Father of John P. Bernier. Brother of Sergeant Marc Bernier, service number P-48827, of 6th CIRU. He fought in Europe and survived the war.

After taking part in the Allied landings in Sicily on 10 July 1943, he landed on the Italian mainland on 3 September. He was killed in action west of Ortona, Italy. He was buried the same day near the chapel in Ortona. On 9 August 1944, his body was exhumed and laid to rest in the Moro River cemetery in Ortona.

Additional citations

1939-1945, Star, Italy Star, Defense Medal, 1939-1945 War Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with bar, Efficiency Medal

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 248 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Italy

By the winter of 1943, the German armies in Italy were defending a line stretching from the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Naples, to the Adriatic Sea south of Ortona. The Allies prepared to break through this line to capture Rome. For its part, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division was to cross the Moro River and take Ortona. In January 1944 the Canadian Corps selected this site, intending that it would contain the graves of those who died during the Ortona battle and in the fighting in the weeks before and after it. Today, there are 1,615 graves in the cemetery, of which over 50 are unidentified and 1,375 are Canadian.

The Moro River Canadian War Cemetery lies in the locality of San Donato in the Commune of Ortona, Province of Chieti, and is sited on high ground near the sea just east of the main Adriatic coast road (SS16). The cemetery can be reached from Rome on the autostrada A25 (Rome-Pescara) by branching on the autostrada A14 and leaving it at Ortona. The approach road to the cemetery from the main road passes under an arch forming part of the little church of San Donato. The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime.

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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