Private Gaston Larouche

Baptized Joseph Thomas Gaston Larouche. Son of Léopold Larouche and Émélie Darcy of Hull, Outaouais, Quebec.

Enlisted at the 3rd District Military Depot in Ottawa, Ontario, he sailed for Great Britain on November 25, 1943, and arrived on December 2. Assigned to the Mediterranean theater of operations with Force M, he set sail again on February 18, 1944, and landed on the Italian mainland on March 3. Upon his arrival, he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment. On May 19, during the Canadian assault on Pontocorvo, Campania, near Caserta, on the Hitler Line in the Liri Valley, he was seriously wounded in action. He was transported to the 9th Canadian Field Ambulance, where he died on May 20, 1944. He was buried the same day near Pignataro Maggiore, 22 paces from the corner of a farmhouse and 7 paces from a wall. Around January 22, 1945, his remains were exhumed and reburied in Cassino.