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In memory of:

Private Joseph Georges Rodolphe Lalonde

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Citation(s);

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

Military service

Service number: D/117491
Age: 21
Rank: Private
Force: Army
Unit/Regiment: Royal 22e Régiment, R.C.I.C.
Birth: December 3, 1922 Béarn, Témiscamingue, Québec
Enlistment: April 21, 1941 Westmount, Montréal, Québec
Death: December 25, 1943 La Torre Sinello village area, Italy

Burial/memorial information

MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Grave reference: XI. E. 2.
Additional information

Baptized Joseph Georges Rodolphe Lalonde, he was the son of Alphonse Lalonde and Rose Anne Prévost of Mattawa, Ontario. He served under the name Rodolphe Lalonde.

He enlisted in the 4th Armoured Field Workshop, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC), in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, on April 1, 1942. He was subsequently assigned to the 3rd Canadian Armoured Brigade Ordnance Company of the RCOC, based in Debert, Nova Scotia. On December 19, 1942, he was declared a deserter, apprehended, and placed in detention.

On July 21, 1943, he was transferred to the Voltigeurs de Québec and embarked for Great Britain, arriving in Greenock, Scotland, on July 27. On September 12, he was assigned to Force M in the Mediterranean, and the following day he sailed for Italy, where he landed on September 24. On November 24, he was transferred to the 4th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment, which he joined in action on November 28.

He was killed on December 25, 1943, during fighting in the area of the village of Torre Sinello. He was buried at Casalbordino, Chieti. Around August 2, 1944, his remains were exhumed and reinterred in Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, Ortona.

He served for 979 days, including 157 days overseas.
 

Related media

Second World War (1939 – 1945)

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 179 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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