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In memory of:

Private Joseph Lionel Odilon Giguere

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Citation(s);

1939-1945 Star
Italy Star
War Medal 1939-1945
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal

Military service

Service number: D/136789
Age: 21
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: January 10, 1922 Québec, Québec
Enlistment: August 31, 1942 Montréal South, Québec
Death: December 21, 1943 near San Vito Grande, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: V. D. 6.
Additional information

Baptized Joseph Odilon Lionel Giguère, but served under the name Lionel Giguère. Son of Lorenzo Giguère and Alice Joncas, of Montréal, Québec.

Enlisted in the 4th Military District Depot of the Régiment de la Chaudière, he sailed for Great Britain on March 25, 1943. On May 12, he was transferred to the 4th Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment and assigned to the Force M theater of operations in the Mediterranean. On June 29, he embarked to participate in Operation Husky. He landed on Pachino Beach on July 11 with the second wave of the assault. On September 10, he set foot in Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. He was wounded in combat by shrapnel in the thigh on December 20 during the fighting in Ortona. He was evacuated on the 21st and died the same day. He was buried the same day on the road leading from San Vito Grande to Orsogna and Ortona.
 

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 163 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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