In Memory of
BANVILLE EMILE
Private
Service E/109503
Royal 22e Regiment, R.C.I.C.
who dead 23 age
on 27 July 1943
AGIRA WAR CEMETERY, SICILY
Emile with his fiancée, Rolande Berube
Son of Germain and Marcelline Banville, of St. Narcisse, Rimouski Co., Province of Quebec.
Pte. Emile Banville, struck by a shrapnel, of the Royal 22nd Regiment was one of 18 "Van Doos" who sacrificed their lives in a brutal 36 hour battle for the high ground outside Catenanuova, Sicily.
He died 75 years ago today - July 27, 1943. This Sunday, nearly 100 of Emile's relatives will gather for a memorial service at St-Narcisse-de-Rimouski church.
His great-niece, Sophie Banville, shared these remarkable memories of her father, who was seven years old when the call notifying them of his Uncle Emile's death came to the family farm.
«In the middle of summer 1943, one evening, around seven, Mom and Dad were in the barn milking cows. I was at home with Grandmother, she was in her room as usual after dinner. I was on the porch when the phone rang two long rings and a short one. You know, the crank phones of that time. They had told me "when you hear : two long rings and a short it's for us, answer it!"
I pulled a chair because I was not tall enough to speak in the cone and picked up the phone. "Hello? Then I said, "Just one minute!" It was a "long distance call" for Grandmother. I asked her to come to the phone. I can still see her, answering with her shy little voice, then listening, and saying nothing, and listening and saying nothing... finally hanging up and asking me to quickly go get my father. I ran to the barn as she went back into her room. "Wait here" he told me but I followed him to the porch; I followed him everywhere all the time.
Dad soon returned from the house, headed to the old dairy where he took four empty milk pails placed upside down on stakes along the building. Two pails in each hand, he walked towards the stable. I can still see him walk while Mother came towards him. I heard him say three words in a strangled voice: "Emile is dead". It was the first time I ever saw grown-ups burst into tears.
Yet after that... cows still had to be milked!
Later, we learned that he had been struck by a shrapnel on July 27, that it was during the Sicilian landing and that he was buried in a military cemetery at the foothill of Mount Etna. The news spread quickly. His friends and the boys at the mill would whisper about it, a ball in their throat. Others would play tough but you could see through it.
After the war, a guy from Sainte-Blandine, one of the 22nd Regiment came to our house. He said he was "with him" when it happened. I remember that he was very drunk, his tears and the rambling comments he made to my Grandmother about the hell from which he had come out and where he had seen Èmile being shot by 'the Krauts'.»
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So, it's just a slice in the life of a little boy, but it deeply marked the whole family. His 10 remaining brothers and sisters had children, some of whom knew him and are still with us like my dad, and with their families and descendants, we'll be 95 people from three generations this Sunday to honor his memory.
His great-niece, Sophie Banville from St-Narcisse-de-Rimouski
Tribute to Emile Banville
Emile Banville was born on January 26, 1920 in St. Narcisse, Quebec. Black haired and brown-eyed, he was the youngest child of Germain Banville and Marcelline Lepage Banville and had seven brothers and two sisters.His father died when Emile was only 4 years old.
Emile enjoyed hunting and swimming, and played the mouth organ. He attended school through the 5th grade, then at the age of 14 left school to work as a farm hand and sawmill labourer.
Beginning in early 1941 he also served in the Canadian Army Reserve.On May 1, 1942 Emile entered active service in the Canadian Army's Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. For unknown reasons, he went AWOL from his unit just a few weeks later on June 14th only to reenlist in a different unit on June 18th. He sailed for the UK in September 1942 and was assigned to the Royal 22e Regiment in early 1943. It was eventually discovered what he had done, but in the end he was allowed to remain with the Royal 22e Regiment.On July 10, 1943, Emile and the rest of the "Van Doos" landed in Sicily, taking part in Operation Husky.Just over two weeks later on July 27, during the brutal fighting to seize the rugged high ground controlling the approaches to the town of Catenanuova, 23 year-old Pte. Emile Banville was killed in action, struck down by shrapnel. He was one of 18 soldiers of the Royal 22e Regiment to die that day.His loss was mourned deeply by his large family and his fiancée;, Rolande Berube (pictured with Emile). Emile's remains were buried in a cemetery at Mount Santa Maria near Mount Etna, then later reinterred in the Canadian War Cemetery at Agira.
His final resting place there is in Plot A, Row D, Grave 54.In July 2018, 75 years after his death, nearly 100 of Emile's relatives gathered for a memorial service in his hometown.Years after Emile's death, one of his nephews shared these memories of when he was seven years old and the call notifying of his Uncle Emile's death came to the family farm."In the middle of summer 1943, one evening, around seven, Mom and Dad were in the barn milking cows. I was at home with Grandmother, she was in her room as usual after dinner. I was on the porch when the phone rang two long rings and a short one. You know, the crank phones of that time. They had told me 'when you hear : two long rings and a short it's for us, answer it!' I pulled a chair because I was not tall enough to speak in the cone and picked up the phone. 'Hello?' Then I said, 'Just one minute!' It was a "long distance call" for Grandmother. I asked her to come to the phone. I can still see her, answering with her shy little voice, then listening, and saying nothing, and listening and saying nothing... finally hanging up and asking me to quickly go get my father. I ran to the barn as she went back into her room. 'Wait here' he told me but I followed him to the porch; I followed him everywhere all the time.Dad soon returned from the house, headed to the old dairy where he took four empty milk pails placed upside down on stakes along the building. Two pails in each hand, he walked towards the stable. I can still see him walk while Mother came towards him. I heard him say three words in a strangled voice: 'Emile is dead'. It was the first time I ever saw grown-ups burst into tears. Yet after that... cows still had to be milked.
Later, we learned that he had been struck by a shrapnel on July 27, that it was during the Sicilian landing and that he was buried in a military cemetery at the foothill of Mount Etna. The news spread quickly. His friends and the boys at the mill would whisper about it, a ball in their throats. Others would play tough but you could see through it.
After the war, a guy from Sainte-Blandine, one of the 22nd Regiment came to our house. He said he was "with him" when it happened. I remember that he was very drunk, his tears and the rambling comments he made to my Grandmother about the hell from which he had come out and where he had seen Émile being 'shot by the krauts'..
Information courtesy of the 