Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptized Joseph Thomas Gaston Larouche. Son of Léopold Larouche and Émélie Darcy of Hull, Outaouais, Quebec.
Enlisted at the 3rd District Military Depot in Ottawa, Ontario, he sailed for Great Britain on November 25, 1943, and arrived on December 2. Assigned to the Mediterranean theater of operations with Force M, he set sail again on February 18, 1944, and landed on the Italian mainland on March 3. Upon his arrival, he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment. On May 19, during the Canadian assault on Pontocorvo, Campania, near Caserta, on the Hitler Line in the Liri Valley, he was seriously wounded in action. He was transported to the 9th Canadian Field Ambulance, where he died on May 20, 1944. He was buried the same day near Pignataro Maggiore, 22 paces from the corner of a farmhouse and 7 paces from a wall. Around January 22, 1945, his remains were exhumed and reburied in Cassino.
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 360 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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CASSINO WAR CEMETERY Italy
CASSINO WAR CEMETERY lies in the Commune of Cassino, Province of Frosinone, 139 kilometres south-east of Rome. It is situated in the valley of the River Liri immediately below the southern spurs of the central Apennines. Above it at a distance of one kilometre is the dominating hill on which stands the Abbey of Monte Cassino, founded by St. Benedict in the year 529 on the site of an ancient temple of Apollo.
If approaching the CASSINO WAR CEMETERY by road, follow the Highway A2 from Rome to Naples and leave it at the Cassino exit. After passing the pay booths, follow the sign for Cassino. At the traffic lights, after a block of flats, turn right towards the locality of S. Angelo and the CWGC signs will then be seen.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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