B74294 photo wearing glengarry, in battledress jacket
date of death 6 August 1943; Buried at Agira Cemetery, Sicily
Pte Downes was in all the battles across Sicily. The last major battle occurred at Regalbuto ending on 2 August and on 5 August the 1st Canadian Division, of which the 48th Highlanders were part, declared they had completed their tasks. Over the next few days the battalion encountered isolated pockets of German resistance (The majority of the German battalions had been removed from Sicily to Italy.) It was one of these surprise pockets in which Robert Downes was killed in action.
He was buried in a temporary grave, well marked, and moved to a permanent cemetery at Agira – Plot C, Row E, Grave No. 329. On his gravestone are words placed there by his family “YOU ARE ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE FAR AWAY”
NOK: Sister – Mrs. Margaret Fines
