Lance Corporal Douglas Desrochers

Son of Alphonse Louis Desrochers and Elizabeth (alias Lilian) Ramsay Sanderson (1901–1932). Alphonse married Aldina (alias Nina) Séguin (1910–1987), from Montreal, Quebec, on August 8, 1935, in Montreal.

Enlisted in the Maisonneuve Regiment, he sailed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on February 16, 1941, and landed at Gourock, Scotland, on March 3. He was loaned to the 2nd Canadian Royal Canadian Engineer from June 9 to 28, 1941, then to the 1st Road Construction Company of the Royal Canadian Engineer from July 19 to December 9, 1941. He was transferred to the 4th Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment on June 1, 1943. On the 29th, he embarked for Sicily, where he landed on July 11, 1943, as part of Operation Husky with Force M. On September 9, he set foot on the Italian mainland. He was mortally wounded in combat on May 19, 1944, near Pontecorvo during an assault on the Hitler Line in the Liri Valley. He died the same day. He was initially buried on the 28th in Pontecorvo. He was exhumed on August 14, 1945, and reburied in the Cassino cemetery. He had served 1,704 days, including 1,188 overseas.