Name: Roger Elderkin McCormick Rank: Private Service Number: F/41670 Service: West Nova Scotia Regiment, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: August 5, 1919 Place of Birth: Weymouth, Digby County, Nova Scotia Date Enlistment: October 31, 1939 Place of Enlistment: Yarmouth, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Weymouth, Digby County, Nova Scotia Age of Enlistment: 20 Height: 5 feet, 6 ¾ inches Complexion: Fair Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Dark Occupation: Labourer Marital Status: Single (at enlistment) Religion: Church of England Next of Kin: Florence McCormick (Mother), New Edinburgh, NS (at enlistment) Jean Mary McCormick (Wife), (after August 16, 1941) Date of Death: December 12, 1943 Age: 24 Cemetery: Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, Italy Grave: Section V, Row A, Grave 16 Commemorated on Page 189 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 18 Roger Elderkin McCormick was the son of Harry Elderkin McCormick (1897-1969) and Florence Maizie (Deveau) McCormick (1899-1984) of New Edinburgh, Digby Co., NS, the husband of Jean Mary (Charman) McCormick (1925-1995), and the father of Rosemary Jean (McCormick) Palmer (1943-2016). Roger had 2 brothers and 4 sisters, Dorothy Elizabeth McCormick (1918-2002), Maizie Florence McCormack (1921-2019), Naomi Marjorie McCormick (1923-2005), Ivan Dale McCormack (1924-1978), Barbara June McCormack (1926-2000), and John "Jack" Earl McCormack (1930-2021). His brother Ivan served as a Private in the Canadian Army and was stationed in Windsor, NS during the war, and later with the Provost Corps. Roger departed Halifax for overseas on December 21, 1939, arriving in Gourock, Scotland on December 31, 1939. He married Jean Mary Charman of Kenley, Surrey, England, in Surrey, in September of 1941 whilst on leave. He embarked in the UK on June 27, 1943, disembarking in the Mediterranean Theatre on July 13, 1943. Private Roger Elderkin McCormick was killed in action on December 12, 1943, during the Battle of Ortona in Italy. Six other men serving with the WNSR, James Ashton Van Amburg of Argyle, Yarmouth Co., Robert Doyle Cluney of Guysborough Co., Lt. Elmer Norman Doane of Shelburne Co., John Hugh McNeil and Lance Corporal Gordon Rice of Cape Breton, and John Batiste Richard of Digby Co., were also killed on December 12th of 1943 at Ortona. Roger is interred at the Moro River Cemetery and, his family also erected a memorial headstone for him in St. Peter's Anglican Church Cemetery in Weymouth North, Digby Co., NS.

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave