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In memory of:

Private Maurice Lebel

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Citation(s);

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

Military service

Service number: E/10530
Age: 20
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: July 23, 1923 St-Hubert, Rivière-du-Loup, Québec
Enlistment: March 30, 1942 Montréal Sud, Québec
Death: July 28, 1943 Mount Scalpello, Sicily, Italy

Burial/memorial information

AGIRA CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: B, G, 228.
Additional 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.

 

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 180 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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AGIRA CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Italy

Agira Canadian War Cemetery lies in the Commune of Agira, Province of Enna, in the centre of Sicily. From the autostrada A19, Catania-Palermo, take the exit to Catenanuova. Follow signposts to Regalbuto, then pass Regalbuto, going in the direction of Agira. The Cemetery is then signposted about 12 kilometres from Regalbuto.

On 10 July 1943, following the successful conclusion of the north African campaign in mid May, a combined allied force of 160,000 Commonwealth and American troops invaded Sicily as a prelude to the assault on mainland Italy. The Italians, who would shortly make peace with the Allies and re-enter the war on their side, offered little determined resistance but German opposition was vigorous and stubborn. The campaign in Sicily came to an end on 17 August when the two allied forces came together at Messina, but failed to cut off the retreating Axis lines. Agira was taken by the 1st Canadian Division of 28 July and the site for the war cemetery was chosen in September for the burial of all Canadians who had been killed in the Sicily campaign. Agira Canadian War Cemetery contains 491 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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