Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Military Service

Additional Information

Son of John Joseph King and Edith Hope King, of Kirkton, Ontario.

His father, John Joseph King, died of wounds sustained during the First World War. Arthur King came to Canada with his mother in 1929 and settled in Usborne Township near Kirkton. After leaving school he worked on his stepfather's farm until the time he enlisted in 1939. Arthur King enlisted in the Perth Regiment at Stratford on September 28, 1939. He trained with the Perths in Canada, and sailed with them to England in October 1941. For some reason, possibly because reinforcements were urgently required in Sicily and Italy, Private King was transferred on June 1, 1943 to I Canadian Special Base Depot. On June 7, he sailed to the Mediterranean and disembarked at the Canadian Depot in Algeria July 13, 1943. He was eventually sent forward August 31, 1943 to the Saskatoon Light Infantry, then serving as a support battalion with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in Italy. As a member of the Saskatoon Light Infantry, Private King took part in the pursuit of German forces up the toe of Italy in September 1943 and then the battles of Motta, San Marco and Campobasso in October. On October 23, 1943, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade waded across the Biferno River with the aim of capturing Colle d'Anchise and Spinete, about three miles from the river. The fighting which followed was bitter and confusing. There was considerable congestion on the Biferno River crossings as support elements trying to cross were heavily mortared. In the midst of this confusion, Private King was killed. He was survived by his step-father, T. Foley of Usborne, his mother Edith Hope Foley, and step-sister, Doris May Foley. He is commemorated on a bronze plaque on the Cenotaph located in St. Marys, Ontario.

Commemorated on Page 177 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.