Lance Corporal Jean Moise Gallant

Baptized Jean Joseph Moïse Gallant. Son of Arsène Gallant and Malvina Blaquière of Val Melanson, New Brunswick. Brother of Private Laurent Gallant, service number E-11089, of the Régiment de la Chaudière, killed in action in Normandy, France, on August 14, 1944.

He had previously served in World War II. He enlisted on April 28, 1943, in the Fusilier Mont-Royal, serial number 57584. He landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, and was taken prisoner of war on August 14, 1944, and brought to Germany. He was interned at Stalag XI-A in Lingberg from September 1, 1944, to September 22, then at Stalag VII-A in Mooseburg from September 26, 1944, to March 5, 1945, and from that date to February 2, 1945, in Perfing, where he was put to forced work in forestry. He was released at the end of the war. 

He enlisted as a volunteer in Atholville, Restigouche, New Brunswick, around 1952 with the Canadian Special Force. He was transferred to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment on August 13, 1952. He left for Japan on March 26, 1953, and arrived in South Korea on April 16. From July 15 to 16, 1953, a barrage of shells rained down more often outside than inside the Canadian lines. Gallant and Private Albert François Proulx, service number SD-9998, were accidentally and fatally wounded while digging a trench. A grenade left on the ground exploded. They died later that day. The entrenchment was then located to the right of Hill 355. 

His name was inscribed on the cenotaph of the Korean War Memorial in Meadowvale Cemetery, Brampton, Peel, Ontario, erected in 1997 to commemorate the 516 Canadians killed in action between 25 June 1950 and 27 July 1953, as well as on the Korean War Memorial in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. An identical monument can be found at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Pusan (South Korea).