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Private
Emile Clarence Pilon 1908-1945 Canadian Forestry Corps
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Private
Emile Clarence Pilon 1908-1945 Canadian Forestry Corps
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 Private
Emile Clarence Pilon (Reg. No. B110236) died in Belgium, April 16,
1945,
at the age of 37, just three weeks before the end of the Second World
War.
In fact, he died not in combat, but from injuries resulting from being
hit by a tram in the Belgian city of Antwerp (follow this
link to read the text of a letter to Emile Clarence Pilon's
widow explaining the circumstances of his death). Regardless of
the cause
of death, this tragedy left a large void in the family which remained
behind
in Canada (he was one of 12 children), but also in the new family he
had
created in England.
Recently, his son, Graham Bernard Clarence Pilon, who was only 5 months old when his father died, made available copies of several documents relating to Emile Clarence Pilon and has generously allowed them to be integrated into this memorial to his father, as part of the Pilon International web site. We are very grateful to him for this kindness. Emile Clarence Pilon, the son of Joseph and Alice Pilon, née Tremblay, was born in Hull, Québec on January 7th, 1908, just across the river from Ottawa, Canada's capital (click here to retrace his family history back to 17th century France). However, when he enlisted into the Canadian Army at Sudbury, Ontario on March 30, 1942 (click here to view his enlistment document), his place of residence was at Blind River, Ontario, located along the north shore of Lake Huron.
According to the official CFC history, by the end of August of 1944, the Corps was in operation in Europe, providing not only the necessary supplies of wood and wooden products and equipment for the Allied war effort, but also serving as front line soldiers, most notably facing the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes in December of 1944. Today, Emile Clarence Pilon lies in the Schoonselhof Cemetery,
Antwerp,
Belgium where he was buried on April 19, 1945 in Plot 4, Row 2, Grave
24
(click on the image of his gravestone below to see an enlargement of
it).
Few in England and Canada probably remember the not so young Canadian
lumberjack
who swept into Southhampton to marry one of their daughters, but his
son
keeps his memory alive. In 1961, the Canadian Board on
Geographical
Names notified Iris Annie Pilon that a lake in Canada was being named
to
honour her late husband. The bird-shaped water body lies north of
Blind River, within the Mississagi Provincial Park, and was apparently
in a region frequented by Emile Clarence when he was a young man. |
