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In memory of:

Private Gérard Labrecque

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Citation(s);

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

Military service

Service number: E/101188
Age: 28
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: October 2, 1915 Québec (St-Jean-Baptiste), Québec
Enlistment: April 19, 1943 Québec, Québec
Death: April 18, 1944 Paupera, San Nicola, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: XI. H. 13.
Additional information

Baptized Joseph Gérard Edgar Labrecque. Son of Raoul Labrecque and Alma Labrecque, of Monument in Giffard, Québec.

Enlisted at the 5th District Military Depot, he sailed for Great Britain on September 13, 1943, and arrived at his destination on the 19th. Assigned to Force M in the Mediterranean, he was transferred to the Royal 22nd Regiment on February 5, 1944. On March 12, 1944, he set sail again for the Mediterranean, and on the 27th, he set foot on the Italian mainland. He was reported missing on April 18, 1944, at Paupera, between San Tomasso and San Nicola in the Moro River sector near Orotna, while coming to the aid of a wounded sergeant, who was successfully evacuated. His body was recovered and buried at the site. On November 14, 1944, it was exhumed and reburied at the Moro River Cemetery, grave number II.H.13.

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 356 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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