Denard, David Robert “Pat”

Regiment: 48th Highlanders of Canada
Regimental No.: M/16024
Rank: Private
Force: Canadian Army (R.C.I.C.)
Grave Ref. V.D.2.
Cemetery: Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, Italy

David or “Pat” Denard, son of Robert and Ellen Boyd Denard, grew up in England as an orphan in the Bernardo Home. The date he arrived in Canada is uncertain; he filed on a homestead on SW – 25-73-9 in 1927 in the La Glace area (Old Post district). He was friendly and outgoing, visiting other settlers, and he worked for neighbors to earn money to buy himself farm machinery. In the early 1930s Pat was Secretary for the Meadowville School District. As soon as he heard about the war, Pat enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1939 in Edmonton, being posted to England and Italy. While in England, he married Hilda Nelson (who was an Air Raid Warden in Manchester) in September 1942. Tragically, Pat was killed in action in Ortona, Italy in December 1943 at age 39. Hilda came to Canada in 1945 to take over the homestead, and she raised cattle and lived there for many years.

Source: Photograph 2005.53.02. (1943) No. 3 Platoon C. A. (B.) T. C. No. 132
Commonwealth War Graves
Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Photo)
Buffalo Trails pp. 241-241
La Glace Yesterday and Today pp. 156, 278-279, Photo p. 279

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