Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptized Joseph Octave Gallant, he served under the name Octave Gallant. Son of Joseph Emmanuel Gallant and Judith Poirier from St-Alexis-de-Matapédia, Bonaventure, Québec.
Enlisted in the Royal 22nd Regiment, he sailed for Great Britain on May 16, 1940, and landed in Glasgow, Scotland, on August 1. From August 26 to November 25, he was loaned out for special duties in Southampton, England, from May 18 to June 7, 1941, to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Engineer based in Odiham, and from August 25 to 30 to the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. Returning to his regiment, he embarked for Italy with Force M and landed on the Italian mainland on April 9, 1944. He was killed in action on September 14, 1944, during an assault on Mount Marano. He was buried on the 17th in grave 14 and exhumed on May 31, 1945, to be reburied in the Gradara cemetery, grave I.G.50. He had served 1,592 days, including 1,156 days overseas.
Digital gallery of Private Octave Gallant
Digital gallery of
Private Octave Gallant
Digital gallery of
Private Octave Gallant
Digital gallery of
Private Octave Gallant
Digital gallery of
Private Octave Gallant
Image gallery
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 311 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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GRADARA WAR CEMETERY Italy
GRADARA WAR CEMETERY is situated in the Commune of Gradara in the Province of Pesaro, at a distance of about 1.5 kilometres from the shores of the Adriatic. To reach the GRADARA WAR CEMETERY from Highway A14 (Bologna-Taranto), exit at Cattolica, which is the nearest town and a seaside resort. The Cemetery is on the main road 5 kilometres south west of the town.
The cemetery occupies a unique position on a hillside which was terraced for agriculture, each row of graves taking up one terrace. The site for the cemetery was chosen in November 1944 and it contains the graves of casualties incurred during the advance from Ancona to Rimini (which broke the Gothic Line) and in the heavy fighting around Rimini, which was taken by the Allies on 21st September 1944.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Poppy Design is a trademark of The Royal Canadian Legion (Dominion Command) and is used with permission. Click here to learn more about the poppy.
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