Private Joseph Henri Marcel Boucher

In 1934, he was a cadet, then cadet-officer and private in the Trois-Rivières Regiment - NPAM - for two months, regimental number 413. Enrolled on 28 February 1942 in the Régiment de Joliette, matricule D-66134, in Montréal, Québec, he crossed to England on 24 September. Transferred to the Royal 22e Régiment on 12 May 1943, he was posted to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations on 28 June. He took part in the fighting in Sicily from 11 July 1943. On 3 September, he landed at Reggio on the Italian mainland. He fought at Potenza, Sangro, near Casa Berardi, at Torre Mucchio, on the Gustav Line, where he was wounded, and on the Gothic Line, crossing the Lamone River. As Lance Corporal, he was last seen at around 7 p.m. on 4 February 1945. Accompanied by three men, Sergeant Roma Oligny, serial number D-118531, Privates Wilfrid Delisle, serial number D-140137, and Laurent Rochette, serial number B-118427, he approached to within 45 feet (13.7 m) of a German machine-gun nest to lay barbed wire. These four Canadians never returned. Initially reported missing and presumed a prisoner of war, he was declared killed in action along the Senio River in the Russi sector of Italy in November 1945.