Military service
Burial/memorial information
Enlisted in the 7th District Depot, he was first transferred to the Fusiliers Mont-Royal on March 23, 1943, sent to Great Britain, where he arrived on April 4, and then to the Royal 22nd Regiment on May 12. He embarked for Sicily as part of Operation Husky, landing on July 10, 1943. On September 3 of the same year, he landed in Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion on the 28th. He was killed in action on March 24, 1944, in the village of San Nicola. He was buried on the 25th at the Casa Berardi cemetery in Lanciano, near Ortona. His remains were exhumed and reburied in the Moro River cemetery.
Digital gallery of Private Francis Deroche
Digital gallery of
Private Francis Deroche
Image gallery
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 289 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Italy
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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