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In memory of:

Private Leon Des Rosiers

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Military service

Service number: E/23342
Age: 21
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: May 23, 1922 Quebec
Enlistment: August 27, 1939
Death: February 20, 1944 San Vito, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: IX. A. 16.
Additional information
Baptized Joseph Léon Charles Auguste Desrosiers. Son of Pierre Desrosiers and Julie (aka Juliette) Richard of Québec. Québec. Brother of Private Paul Émile Desrosiers who served in this conflict and survived the war.

Enlisted in the Voltigeurs de Québec - NPAM - serial number NP 2071, on August 27, 1939, he joined the regular forces of this regiment, serial number E-23342, on October 17. He sailed for Great Britain on July 21, 1943, arriving at his destination on the 28th. On October 27, 1943, he set sail for the Mediterranean and, upon his arrival in Italy on December 21, he was integrated into the 4th Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment. Seriously wounded in combat on February 20, 1940, in the Crecchio sector, he was transported to the 2nd Field Dispensary Station in San Vito, where he died the same day. He was buried on the 21st.

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 290 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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