B134864 Pte Levesque, Rheal enlisted at MD No. 3 (northeast Ontario). He was taken on strength in Italy by the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders on 24 December 1943. Later that night the infantry companies of the battalion penetrated over two miles behind the German lines in the rain, along a goat path, undetected, to occupy an all-round defensive position west of Ortona that threatened the only roads in or out of Ortona available to the Germans. On the 27th the Germans abandoned their attempts to dislodge the 48th and withdrew, at the same time as they began to leave Ortona. After clearing the town of San Tommaso, the battalion took up a static position nearby and remained under shelling. On 12 January Pte Levesque was sent to hospital.

On 27 May 1944 Pte Levesque returned to the battalion which had crossed to the other coast of Italy and were at rest at Piedmonte d’Alife after their successful, and singlehanded, breaching of the vaunted Hitler Line at Pontecorvo on 22/23 May. The battalion returned to the Adriatic on 17 May to begin the advance through the Gothic Line defences in depth. Pte Levesque was sent to hospital for the second time on 24 August while the battalion was in a defensive position on the Metauro River, under ongoing shelling prior to the beginning of the advance on the 26th. On that day, Pte Levesque was released from hospital and held on the X-4 list (Highlanders available for reinforcement). He reached the battalion on 13 September at the Marano River area and was wounded, sent to hospital on the 17th on the advance over the river toward Rimini.

(Service records required for period after 17 September and prior to 24 December 1943.)