Private Marcel Laflamme

Baptized Joseph Marcel Alexandre Laflamme. Son of Pierre Laflamme and Olivine Couture, of La Sarre, Abitibi, Québec.

Enlisted in the Régiment de Joliette in Noranda, he stated that he was born in 1923, a date that was corrected to 1924 on August 3, 1943, even though he was actually born in 1925. He embarked for Great Britain on September 24, 1942, and landed in England on October 7. Transferred to the Royal 22nd Regiment on February 18, 1943, he was assigned to Force M, destined for the Mediterranean, on June 28, 1943. He landed in Sicily as part of Operation Husky on July 11. Assigned to the 4th Battalion on August 20, he set foot on the Italian mainland at Reggio di Calabria on September 10. He was mortally wounded in action on October 6, 1943, during fighting in a difficult but unsuccessful attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Fortore River, near the destroyed bridge on Route 13 Archi and the village of Gambatesa. He was transported to the 4th Canadian Field Ambulance, where he died that same day.