John Cornelius PALFENIER

                   Found by a local  farmer George DeWitt and her mother Mrs Bertha Palfenier in the woods
by Buck Lake,Alberta 22 Aug 1945
                  

                   487-11 ST SE MEDICINE HAT ALBERTA
92-665 MCBETH KAMLOOP BRITISH COLUMBIA V2C5V9
NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS MEDICINE HAT ALBERTA
M/10648 SGT.ALVIN.PALFENIER  CALGARY HIGLANDERS, R.C.I.C.MISSING IN ACTION
MR.AND MRS.J.PALFENIER ,BECKER BLOCK, HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED THAT THEIR SON, SGT
ALVIN PALFENIER HAS BEEN REPORTED MISSING SINCE AUGUST 13,SGT PALFENIER WAS
SERVING WITH THE CALGARY HIGHLANDERS IN NORMANDY. HE ENLISTED ON SEPTEMBER
7,1939 AND PROCEEDED OVERSEAS IN JULY L940, HE WAS WOUNDED IN ENGLAND IN
1941,BUT RETURNED TO DUTY, GOING INTO ACTION WITH THE INVASION FORCES ENTERING FRANCE.  BORN IN PRELATE,SASK, SGT PALFENIER RECEIVED HIS EDUCATION IN THIS CITY.  HIS WIFE MRS GRACE PALFENIER RESIDES AT 426 SOUTH RAILWAY STREET.
IN MEMORIAM
PALFENIER-IN LOVING MEMERY OF SGT.ALVIN.H.PALFENIER,CALGARY HIGHLANDERS, WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE, AUGUST 13,1944.  HE IS GONE BUT NOT
FORGOTTEN,AND,AS DAWNS ANOTHER YEAR, IN OUR LONELY HOURS OF THINKING, THOUGHTS OF HIM ARE ALWAYS NEAR. DAYS OF SADNESS WILL COME O'ER US, FRIENDS MAY THINK THE WOUND IS HEALED, BUT THEY LITTLE KNOW THE SORROW THAT LIES WITHIN THE HEART CONCEALED. EVER REMEMBERED BY HIS FATHER AND FAMILY.
COMMEMORATIVE INFORMATION
BRETTEVILLE-SUR-LAIZE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Mentioned in Battalion of Heroes, The Calgary Highlanders in World War II, by David Bercuson.And in The War
Diaries of the Calgary Highlanders.
XII,H.15.
This cemetery lies on the west side of the main road from Caen to Falaise (route N158) about 14 kilometres south of Caen and just north of the village of Cintheaux.  The village of Bretteville lies 3 kilometres south-west of the cemetery.
Buried here are those who died during the later stages of the battle of Normandy, the cature of Caen and the trust southwards (led initially by the 4th Canadian and 1lst  Polish Armoured Divisions), to close the Falaise Gap, and thus seal off the German divisions fighting desperately to escape being trapped west of the Seine. Almost every unit of Canadian 2nd Corps is represented in the Cemetery.
There are now nearly 3,000, 1939-45 war casualties commenorated in this site.
This is a extract from Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Display Record of Commenoration.
                  

                      NEWSPAPER CLIPPING MEDICINE HAT ALBERTA CANADA
SGT T PALFENIER KILLED IN ACTION
10657 LANCE\SGT THEODORE EMERY PALFENIER  29TH ARMD.RECONNAISSANCE REGT.,SOUTH ALBERTA REGIMENT,R.C.A.C.WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE ON SEPTEMBER 12,ACCORDING TO WORD RECEIVED THIS MORNING BY HIS PARENTS MR AND MRS J PALFENIER 24 BECKER BLOCK. SGT PALFENIER WAS BORN IN PRELATE SASK,ON JULY 20.1923,AND CAME TO MEDICINE HAT IN 1929 WHERE HE RECEIVED HIS EDUCATION,FINISHING AT THE ALEXANDRA HIGH SCHOOL.HE ENLISTED IN THE CALGARY HIGHLANDERS ON SEPTEMBER 8,1939,AND LATER TRANSFERRED TO THE 29 ARMOURER RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT.  A BROTHER SGT ALVIN HERMAN PALFENIER WAS REPORTED KILLED IN ACTION IN NORMANDY TWO WEEKS AGO, HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN REPORTED MISSING ON 13 AUGUST.
COMMEMORATIVE INFORMATION
ADEGEM CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
VII.F.3.
Adegem Canmadian War Cemetery is located midway between Brugge (17 Km) and Gent (26 km) on the N9 which connects the two towns.
From Brugge, Adegem is approached via Sijsele and Maldegem.  On reaching Adegem the Cemetery is located on the Prins Boudewijnlaan, on the right hand side of the N9.
In the last week of September 1944, the allies held the city of Antwerp, but the Germans held both shores of the Scheldt esturary, so that the port of Antwerp could not be used.  The task of clearing the southern shore of the esturary was allotted to the 3rd Canadian Division, aided by the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 52nd Divison.  Their operations lasted from October until the beginning of November 1944; by 3rd November the Germans had been cleared from the north-west corner of Belgium and the south shore of scheldt was free.  There had been fierce fighting for two weeks for the crossing of the Leoplold Canal.
The majority of the men buried at Adegem died during the operations for the clearance of the south bank of the Scheldt; but many Canadians who lost their lives elsewhere in Belquim were also brought here for burial.  A number of isolated graves from varus communal cemeteries and churchyards in Belgium have now  been concetrated into this cemetery.
There are now a small number of 1914-1918 and over 1,000, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.  Of these, over 40 from the 1939-45 War are unidentified.
Extract Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Display Record of Commenoration.
Mentioned in South Albertas , A Canadian Regiment at war, by Donald E.Graves.