Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptised Joseph Claude Lafortune, Son of Ludger Lafortune and Odile Brasseur of Montréal, Québec. Brother of Private Léopold Lafortune, D-488315, and Private Jacqueline Lafortune, W-4010 with CWAC. Both survived the war.
Enlisted in Company B of the Royal 22nd Regiment, he sailed for Great Britain on December 9, 1939, and landed in Greenock, Scotland, on the 18th. He spent most of his time shuttling between the hospital and disciplinary actions for insubordination. On June 15, 1943, he sailed for Sicily to take part in the Allied landing on July 10 as part of Operation Husky. He landed at Pachino with the second assault wave. On September 3, the Canadians landed at Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. That same day, he was admitted to the 9th Canadian Field Ambulance and transferred to the 2nd Canadian Field Dressing Station, where he died of acute gastroenteritis on the 4th at 1:30 p.m. He was buried in Archi on the 5th. On May 4, 1944, his body was exhumed and reburied in Bari.
Digital gallery of Corporal Claude Lafortune
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Cross of Sacrifice
Memorial cross awarded to his mother -
Grave marker
Digital gallery of
Corporal Claude Lafortune
Digital gallery of
Corporal Claude Lafortune
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 178 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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