Military service
Burial/memorial information
Baptized Joseph Maurice Apollinaire Lebel. Son of Amédée Lebel and Noémie Dubé of Biencourt, Témiscouata, Quebec. Brother of Private Gérard Lebel, service number E-29419, of the 18th Canadian Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He served in World War II and survived the war.
He enlisted for the first time on June 7, 1941, in the Régiment de la Chaudière, service number E-105030, in Rimouski, Quebec, stating that he was born on July 23, 1921. After a series of infractions and a hospital stay, he deserted from March 14 to 29, 1942. On April 9, 1942, he was discharged from the army. Meanwhile, on March 30, he re-enlisted in the Régiment de Joliette, service number D-66240, in Montreal South, Quebec, under the name Joseph Lionel Castonguay, born September 21, 1922, and listed his father, Étienne Castonguay — a false name — as his next of kin. He sailed for Great Britain on September 24, 1942, and arrived at his destination on October 7. On January 14, 1943, his false identity was uncovered. He then declared his name to be Marcel Lebel. On June 15, 1943, he was assigned to Force M and sailed for the Mediterranean to take part in the Allied landing in Sicily, Operation Husky. On July 10, he landed on the beaches at Pachino around noon with the second assault wave. He was killed in action on July 28, 1943, from wounds sustained during an assault on Mount Scalpello, near Catenanuova. He was buried there the same day, exhumed, and reburied at the Agira Cemetery on October 14, 1944.
Digital gallery of Private Maurice Lebel
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Newspaper clipping
Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
Attestation papers
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Cemetery
Entrance - Agira Canadian War Cemetery - 2013 Photo courtesy of Marg Liessens -
Cemetery
Agira Canadian War Cemetery - 2013 Photo courtesy of Marg Liessens -
Cemetery
Cross of Sacrifice - Agira Canadian War Cemetery - 2013 -
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
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Grave Marker
Grave marker - Agira Canadian War Cemetery - 2013
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
Digital gallery of
Private Maurice Lebel
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 180 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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