Name: Joseph Edmond Robicheau Rank: Private Service Number: F/602274 Service: Royal 22nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: November 16, 1923 Place of Birth: Meteghan, Clare, Digby County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: August 5, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Halifax County, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Meteghan, Clare, Digby County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 19 Hair Colour: Brown Eye Colour: Green Occupation: Fisherman Marital Status: Single at enlistment Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Vitaline Robicheau (Mother) Date of Death: April 14, 1945 Age: 21 Cemetery: Holten Canadian War Cemetery, Netherlands Grave: Section III, Row A, Grave 8 Commemorated on Page 559 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on November 23 Joseph Edmond Robicheau was the son of Cesaire P. Robicheau (1874-1970) and Vitaline (Deveau) Robicheau (1896-1984), of Meteghan, Digby Co. NS, and the brother of Marie Irene Robichaud (1917- 2007), Émile Robicheau (1919-2006), Stanis Robichaud (1922-2005), Jean-Louis Robicheau (1925- 1925), Marie Therese Robichaud (1926-2001), Alfred Robichaud (1930–2021), and Marie Sadie Robichaud (1934-2014). When he enlisted at the No. 6 National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) Clearing Depot in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on August 18, 1943, he noted that he had worked as a fisherman for 2 years and had served in the 2nd Battalion West Nova Scotia Infantry (Reserve) since October 1942. On September 17, 1943, Edmond was sent to No. 61 Canadian Army Basic Training Centre (CABTC) in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia for training as a gunner. After completing his basic training, he was attached to A23 Training Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia on November 16, 1943. A23 was a Coast and Anti- Aircraft Artillery Training Centre established to train coast and anti-aircraft gunners. On March 11, 1944, Edmond was transferred to the 16th (C) Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery and sent to Sydney, Nova Scotia. Not long afterwards, on April 26, 1944, he was assigned to the 104th Coast Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery and posted to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. The 104th Coast Battery was garrisoned at Fort McNutt on McNutt’s Island, as coastal defence to protect the Navl base at Shelburne from the threat of German submarine activity. On September 7, 1944, Edmond transferred to the Royal Regiment of Canada and sent for a 4-day tactical training course at the Special Infantry Training Camp in Vernon, British Columbia on September 27, 1944. On October 1, 1944, Edmond was attached to the 1st Battalion Oxford Rifles, part of the Royal Regiment of Canada, which served in Canada in a home defence role as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade, 8th Canadian Division. On January 2, 1945, Edmond was among the soldiers of the 1st Battalion Oxford Rifles who left Canada for the United Kingdom, arriving on January 8, 1945. The Battalion was disbanded on January 10, 1945, to provide reinforcements for the First Canadian Army. Jospeh transferred from the UK to Belgium on March 9, 1945, and was assigned to the Royal 22nd Regiment on April 2, 1945, in Putte, Belgium. In the Regimental history of the Royal 22nd Regiment, author Serge Bernier records that “on April 4, the regiment made an incursion into the Reichswald, near Clèves, which the Canadians had recently liberated at considerable cost.” Clèves is just across the Dutch border in Germany. After a few days, the Regiment made its way back into The Netherlands. “… On the 10th the Royal 22e left the sector, passing through Clèves and Emmerich, before moving into eastern Holland, and stopping near Zutphen. On the 13th it crossed the IJssel [river] to take up a position in a bridgehead that the 3rd Brigade would use as a base to attack the town of Appeldoorn”. On April 14, 1945, the Regiment received orders. “The West Nova Scotia Regiment and the Carleton and York Regiment were the first to leave, closely followed by the Royal 22nd Regiment, but at 7:30 am the regiment received orders to capture a well-defended wooded area...”. This became known as the Battle of the Five Woods. “… Assisted by tanks, the companies performed mopping-up operations in the sector for 24 hours. The assignment proved costly: 11 men were reported killed, 19 wounded and two missing”. Private Edmond Robicheau was among those killed during the Battle of the Five Woods near Deventer, Netherlands on April 14, 1945. He is interred at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery, 20 kilometers from Deventer.

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave On The War Memorial Trail