Name: Gerald Arthrell Rank: Corporal Service Number: B/37562 Service: Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, RCIC Date of Birth: July 6, 1919 Place of Birth: Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: April 16, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Hamilton, Ontario Address at Enlistment: Paris, Ontario Age at Enlistment: 20 Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Complexion: Fair Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Brown Occupation: Mill Hand Marital Status: Single Religion: United Church Next of Kin: Herbert Arthrell (Father) Date of Death: August 12, 1944 Age: 24 Cemetery: Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, Normandy, France Grave: Section VII, Row C, Grave 4 Commemorated on Page 239 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on May 21 Gerald Arthell was the son Herbert Arthrell (1894-1975) and Victoria (Giles) Arthrell (1897-1965), and the brother of George William Arthrell (1915-2005), and Ethel Arthrell (1917-2004). In 1921, the family lived in Banker Hill in Stellarton, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Later, by the 1940’s, the family had moved to Paris, Ontario. Gerald enjoyed stamp collecting, played centre at lacrosse, and 1st base in baseball. Prior to enlistment he was working as a mil hand in the drying room at Penman’s textile mill in Paris, Ontario. After enlisting in April 1940 and training in Canada, Gerald embarked in Halifax, NS, on July 23, 1940, and arrived in the United Kingdom at Gourock, Scotland on August 2, 1940. Completing additional training from 1940 to 1942, George saw action in one of Canada’s first offensive operations in Europe during WWII, participated in Operation Jubilee, the Raid on Dieppe, France on August 19, 1942. He is one of the 2210 survivors who returned to England of the 4963 Canadians who took part in the raid, the remainder of which were killed, reported missing or captured as prisoners of war. Having survived the Raid on Dieppe, Gerald and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Regiment returned to England. Two years later, the Regiment landed again in France on July 5, 1944, as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. George was killed in the Battle of Clair Tison during the fighting near Barbery in Normandy, France, on August 12, 1944. The Regiment’s initial objective was the hamlet of Barbery. At a small crossroads near the abandoned hamlet, they encountered fierce German resistance as they moved through wheat fields. A second Nova Scotian, Private Robert Francis Boudreau, born in Upper Wedgeport, Yarmouth County, was also killed August 12, 1944, in the Battle of Clair Tison and rests in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. Read about the details of the Battle of Clair Tison on Private Robert Boudreau’s remembrance page. Corporal George Arthrell was initially interred at a temporary burial site near the crossroads of the battlefield (map reference 075560), and later re-interred at the Bretteville- sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery.

WWII Index

Sources and Information: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave