Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptized Joseph Donat Léonce Lavigne. Son of Émile Lavigne and Diana Déziel dit Labrèche.
Enlisted in the Royal 22nd Regiment, he sailed on July 15, 1940, for Great Britain, where he landed on August 1 in Glasgow, Scotland. On May 26, 1943, he was assigned to the Canadian Army Service Corps while remaining with the same regiment. On August 15, 1943, attached to Force M in the Mediterranean, he sailed for Sicily, where he landed on the 27th. On September 3, he crossed over to the Italian mainland and landed at Reggio di Calabria. Seriously wounded by shrapnel to the chest and abdomen on October 6, he was taken back to Catania, Sicily, where he died at the 5th Canadian General Hospital on December 1, 1943. He was buried on the 2nd in Agira. He had served for 1,366 days, including 1,234 days overseas.
Digital gallery of Private Léonce Lavigne
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Entrance
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Agira Canadian War Cemetery
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Agira Canadian War Cemetery
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View of Mt. Enna
Digital gallery of
Private Léonce Lavigne
Digital gallery of
Private Léonce Lavigne
Digital gallery of
Private Léonce Lavigne
Digital gallery of
Private Léonce Lavigne
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 180 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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AGIRA CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Italy
Agira Canadian War Cemetery lies in the Commune of Agira, Province of Enna, in the centre of Sicily. From the autostrada A19, Catania-Palermo, take the exit to Catenanuova. Follow signposts to Regalbuto, then pass Regalbuto, going in the direction of Agira. The Cemetery is then signposted about 12 kilometres from Regalbuto.
On 10 July 1943, following the successful conclusion of the north African campaign in mid May, a combined allied force of 160,000 Commonwealth and American troops invaded Sicily as a prelude to the assault on mainland Italy. The Italians, who would shortly make peace with the Allies and re-enter the war on their side, offered little determined resistance but German opposition was vigorous and stubborn. The campaign in Sicily came to an end on 17 August when the two allied forces came together at Messina, but failed to cut off the retreating Axis lines. Agira was taken by the 1st Canadian Division of 28 July and the site for the war cemetery was chosen in September for the burial of all Canadians who had been killed in the Sicily campaign. Agira Canadian War Cemetery contains 491 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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