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In memory of:

Private Melvin Silas Laughren

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Military service

Service number: K/69993
Age: 36
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
Birth: April 16, 1907 Shawville
Enlistment: December 10, 1942 British Columbia
Death: February 13, 1944

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: X. H. 15.
Additional information
Son of Mr. Wilfred and Mrs. Dorcas Laughren. Brother Irvin, Gordon, and Viola Laughren, and Thelma Box.

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 360 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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