Private Conrad Lebel

Baptized Joseph Napoléon Conrad Lebel. Son of Charles Oscar Lebel and Marie Exilda Marcoux. Husband of Raymonde Létourneau, of Beauport, Québec. He had no children.

Under the National Resources Mobilization Act of 1940, he served in the Quebec Regiment (militia) – NPAM – from October 9, 1940, to April 6, 1941, service number 429325, later replaced by E-462389. At Camp Valcartier, he enlisted in the regular forces. He feigned epileptic seizures and was sent to a psychiatric ward from February 15 to March 20, 1943. On May 1, he was assigned to the Quebec Voltigeurs. He embarked for Great Britain on July 21, 1943, and landed in Greenock, Scotland, on the 28th. On October 28 of that year, he was assigned to Force M in the Mediterranean theater of operations. On December 22, 1943, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment, which was fighting in the Ortona sector. He set foot on the Italian mainland on the 24th. He was struck by multiple pieces of shrapnel in combat on December 30, 1943, near the Riccio and Arielli rivers, in the La Torre Mucchio sector. He died of his wounds that same day. He was buried on the 31st near the chapel in Ortona. Around February 1945, his remains were exhumed and reburied at the Moro River Cemetery in Ortona.