In Memory of
Fitch, Maurice Stoleson, M S
Rank: Trooper
Service: L/54923
Unit Text: 14th Armd. Regt.
Calgary Regiment, R.C.A.C.
who died 19 age
19 July 1943
Remembered with honour
AGIRA WAR CEMETERY, SICILY
AGIRA WAR CEMETERY, SICILY
Born 22 Mag 1924
Central Butte, Moose Jaw Census Division, Saskatchewan, Canada;
Son of Earl Wilfred and Inge Stoleson Fitch, of Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 2009-08-05
Trooper Maurice Stoleson Fitch, Calgary Regiment. Born on 22 May 1923 in Central Butte, Saskatchewan and drowned on 19 July 1943.Maurice was the first casualty the Calgary Regiment suffered. He drowned in the Mediterranean while swimming there with his comrades. Below is a part of their war diary that day:
"On the east of Sicily the Calgary Regiment also had its first encounter with the enemy in the hills near Cassibile. A-Squadron ran into a party of eight Italians from an artillery regiment who quickly surrendered. In the area some more men of this regiment were found and taken in. The Calgaries also suffered their first casualty when Trooper Maurice Fitch drowned during a swimming accident. Two of his comrades tried to rescue him, but without any luck."
Maurice's body washed ashore the following day and he was buried in a field grave. He was later reburied on Agira Canadian War Cemetery.
Maurice lived in Quill Lake, Saskatchewan where his mother and five younger brothers also lived. His father, who was 45 years old, was also in active service and served with the Royal Canadian Engineers in London, Ontario.
Maurice enlisted on 13 November 1941 in Saskatoon.
Jimbo Jimmy, 2024-09-26
Trooper Fitch died as a result of a drowning accident. Morris was born in Quill Lake, Saskatchewan in 1924. He joined the Army and served with the 14th Calgary Regiment of the Royal Canadian Tank Corps in Canada, England, North Africa, Sicily, and Italy where he was killed in action in 1943 at the age of nineteen. Morris was buried in Italy's Agira Canadian War Cemetery. He never married.
Source (page 121); https://www.sasklegion.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Military-Service-Recognition-Book-2014.pdf
Find Grave, 2024-11-01
Information courtesy of the 