Arthur Roy Avarell enlisted in Toronto on 3 May 1942 and was assigned the service number B112517. He gave his date of birth as 25 June 1923, his religion as Church of England.  He was taken on strength of the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders on 9 August 1943 from the X-4 list (48th Highrs) [members of the 48th who are available as reinforcements].  He sailed from Scotland in the “slow convoy”. The battalion sailed more quickly to their landing at Pachino, Sicily on 9 July. Pte Avarell was in Headquarters Company as a Signaler. When he joined the battalion in Sicily it was in at Carcaci, and out of battle following their participation in the taking of the town of Regalbuto. The battalion watched the bombardment of Adrano on the 6th from Carcaci near the slopes of Mount Etna.  Adrano was the last significant battle in Sicily.

The battalion then moved to a rest camp on the Simeto River. However, this location was home to malaria mosquitoes and the battalion left there on 12 August for Militello, an arid, desert-like location, but without mosquitoes. Pte Avarell was transferred to the X-3 list (Hospital) on 26 August 1943, most likely with malaria. He returned shortly thereafter to the battalion, to participate in chasing the Germans out of the toe of Italy up to Campobasso on the Adriatic Coast. The Padre’s casualty list indicates he received a shrapnel wound (grenade) to the head on 25 October 1943 at Torella, a town north of Campobasso. The 48th had been assigned to push the Germans out of Torella to have the German artillery out of range of Campobasso where the Canadians were resting and recovering.

Our records  show that he was with the battalion from 24 December 1943 to the end of the war.

. On 24 December 1943 he was taken on strength of the 1st Battalion again, when they were chasing the Germans as they retreated from Ortona.

. In July 1944 he received the 1939-1943 Star as did other members of the battalion. He was shown as L/Cpl.

. He was with the battalion when they transferred on 11 March 1945 from Leghorn, Italy (south of the Arno River on the coast near Florence) to Marseille on 13 March when the 1st Canadian Division transferred from Italy to Belgium to complete the liberation of Holland in April 1945.

. In September 1945 he was shows with the battalion leaving North West Europe on 4 December for the UK on 5 September as the battalion prepared to come back to Canada.

From 24 December 1943 to the end of the war, we can assume that he was with the battalion for: “The Gully” on the advance to Ortona; the outflanking of Ortona; the Liri Valley and the Adolph Hitler Line; The Gothic Line; The Rimini Line and the Lamone River crossing, plus the liberation of Apeldoorn in Holland.

NOK: Mother – Mrs May Nita Avarell, 112 Bridgeland Ave., Downsview, Ontario