Name: Leo John Melanson Rank: Private Service Number: F/36529 Service: The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: August 17, 1913 Place of Birth: Doucetteville, Digby County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: January 4, 1944 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Marshalltown, Digby County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 30 Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Blue Occupation: Oiler Marital Status: Married Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Bertha M Melanson (Mother) Date of Death: October 3, 1944 Age: 33 Cemetery: Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands Grave: Section 5, Row E, Grave 7 Commemorated on Page 392 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on August 23 Leo John Melanson was the son of Morris James Melanson (1891-1965) and Bertha Mary (Thibault) Melanson (1893-1964), of Marshall's Town, Digby Co., Nova Scotia, brother of Joseph Hughes Melanson (1914–1991), Mary Catherine Melanson (1916–1991), Mary Estelle Melanson (1918-1990), Emedee Howard Melanson (1920-1988), Denis Samuel Melanson (1922-1923), Charles William Melanson (1926-2012), Lucie Theresa Melanson (1931-2014), and Helen Muriel Melanson (1933-2020). He was the husband of Elizabeth Mary (Amero) Melanson Lewis (1916-1997) and the father of Norma Marilyn (Melanson) Williams (1934-1997). Elizabeth remarried Reginald Hamilton Lewis in 1945, after Leo’s death in 1944. Leo completed the ninth grade and left school at the age of 14 to work. Prior to enlisting, Leo was working for the Standard Paving Company of Halifax, NS an oiler on a gas shovel. He had previously driven a truck for a lumber company (2 years), operated machinery in a woodworking shop (saw, planes and handsaws; 9 years), and operated a cement mixer and compressed air drills (1 year). It was noted on enlistment that two of his brothers were in the army, both in the RCOC, and that he was, “a friendly cooperative man; seems willing and a good prospect.” After enlistment, Leo trained at Petawawa, Ontario and Debert, Nova Scotia, before departing Canada on June 26, 1944, and disembarked in the United Kingdom on July 4, 1944. He departed England for France on September 22, 1944, and was assigned to the Black Watch of Canada on September 28, 1944. Private Leo John Melanson was killed in action on October 3, 1944, in Brecht, Belgium. He is interred at the Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. Twenty-six Black Watch of Canada soldiers died between October 2 and October 6, 1944, during the fighting in Saint-Leonard and Brecht, Belgium.

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave Black Watch War Diary