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In memory of:

Lieutenant George Alfred Edward Hermitage

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Citation(s);

1939-1945 Star
Italy Star
Defence Medal
War Medal 1939-1945
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal

Military service

Age: 28
Rank: Lieutenant
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: January 15, 1915 Montréal, Québec
Enlistment: October 3, 1941 Montréal South, Québec
Death: December 14, 1943 Fossacesia, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: U.S.A. V. F. 10.
Additional information

Son of William Edward Hermitage and May Bertha Rickard. Husband of Muriel Sylvia Hermitage, of Northborough, Massachusetts.

He served in the Joliette Regiment – NPAM – and was promoted to second lieutenant on July 27, 1940. On September 27, 1941, he was confirmed in that rank, and on January 8, 1942, upon transferring to the regular forces, he was promoted to lieutenant. On February 28, 1942, he was assigned to the Joliette Regiment. He embarked for Great Britain on September 25 and landed on October 7. On December 17, 1942, he was transferred to the Royal 22nd Regiment as a signals officer. Assigned to Force M on June 15, 1943, he set sail for the Mediterranean to take part in Operation Husky. He landed on the beach at Pachino around noon on July 10 with the second assault wave. On September 10, he set foot on the Italian mainland at Reggio de Calabria. On December 12, he was seriously wounded in the abdomen and thigh by shrapnel from a mortar shell. He died of his wounds on December 14 at 5:00 p.m., in Fossacesia.

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 170 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Italy

By the winter of 1943, the German armies in Italy were defending a line stretching from the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Naples, to the Adriatic Sea south of Ortona. The Allies prepared to break through this line to capture Rome. For its part, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division was to cross the Moro River and take Ortona. In January 1944 the Canadian Corps selected this site, intending that it would contain the graves of those who died during the Ortona battle and in the fighting in the weeks before and after it. Today, there are 1,615 graves in the cemetery, of which over 50 are unidentified and 1,375 are Canadian.

The Moro River Canadian War Cemetery lies in the locality of San Donato in the Commune of Ortona, Province of Chieti, and is sited on high ground near the sea just east of the main Adriatic coast road (SS16). The cemetery can be reached from Rome on the autostrada A25 (Rome-Pescara) by branching on the autostrada A14 and leaving it at Ortona. The approach road to the cemetery from the main road passes under an arch forming part of the little church of San Donato. The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime.

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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