Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptized Joseph Georges Guillaume Forgue. Son of Georges Forgues and Rose Anna Perron, of Pointe-au-Pic, Charlevoix, Québec.
He enlisted in the Royal 22nd Regiment, Company A, stating that he was born on November 15, 1918, in La Malbaie. On December 9, 1939, he sailed for Great Britain, arriving in Greenock, Scotland, on the 18th. On January 24, 1943, he qualified as a mason in Group B. On June 15, 1943, he sailed for the Mediterranean with Force M as part of Operation Husky. He landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943, around noon with the second wave of the assault. On September 10, he set foot on the Italian mainland. From May 17 to October 11, 1944, he served as a mason at the 14th Canadian General Hospital. He returned to his unit on the 12th. He was killed in action on December 12, 1944, near Russi during an assault on the Fosso Vetro canal. He was buried on the 14th alongside the road leading to Ravenna, in grave 14. Around August 19, 1946, his body was exhumed and reburied in the cemetery in Ravenna.
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 307 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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RAVENNA WAR CEMETERY Italy
The Ravenna War Cemetery lies on a communal road 1 kilometre south of the SS16 from Ravenna to Ferrara near the village of Piangipane in the Commune and Province of Ravenna. The turning from the main road is at the 143 kilometres stone, 12 kilometres west of Ravenna. The turning is marked with a Commonwealth War Graves sign pointing in the direction of the cemetery, and a road sign marked 'Piangipane 4 kilometres'. Continue along the minor road until a further Commonwealth War Graves sign is seen. The entrance to the cemetery is located on the left hand side of the road.
The site for the cemetery was selected by the Army in 1945 for burials from the surrounding battlefields. Ravenna was taken by the Canadian Corps at the beginning of December 1944, and the burials in the cemetery there reflect the fighting for the Senio line and the period of relative quiet during the first three months of 1945. Many of the men buried there were Canadians; one of the last tasks of the Canadian Corps before being moved to north-west Europe was the clearing of the area between Ravenna and the Comacchio lagoon. Others are Indians from the 10th Indian Division, and New Zealanders. The Cemetery also contains the graves of 30, 1914-18 War casualties concentrated in March 1974 from Gradisca Communal Cemetery , Italy and 3 other burials concentrated from other minor cemeteries in Italy. There are now over 30 graves of the First World War and 956 graves plus one Special Memorial of the Second World War.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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