Seeking photos to honour the fallen

I am the chairman of the D-day Dodgers Foundation, based in the Netherlands. We research battles and personal stories of the Second World War, with a focus on the lessknown stories.

We are called the D-day Dodgers, named after the soldiers who fought in Italy and therefore missed D-day in Normandy. These men were anything but dodgers and deserve a better place in our remembrance of the war.

One of our projects is Volti di Agira or Faces of Agira.

Agira is the Canadian War Cemetery in Sicily. Four hundred and ninety Canadian soldiers are buried on a small hill close to the town of Agira.

In November 2021, we placed over 350 pictures of the soldiers for Faces of Agira. In July 2023, it will be 80 years after the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) and our goal is to have all the pictures.

We have a list of soldiers ( below) from the Loyal Eddies who are buried in Agira Canadian War Cemetery.

From what we researched before, we know most of them are from the Edmonton area. We want to ask relatives if they have pictures of these men and want to share these with us. If you go to Facebook and look for Volti di Agira or Agira Canadian War Cemetery, you will find us.

Loyal Edmonton Regiment: Pte. Harry Atkinson M/16646; Pte. Bruce Donald Davison K/99085; Pte. Dick Gill M/66356; Pte. Varley Stevens Hallett M/15810;

Cpl. Arnold Harris M/15732; Pte. George Johnston M/16958; Pte. James Nelson Rasmussen M/101907; Cpl. Francis Thomas Wagstaff M/16582; Cpl William Walker M/15721.

Tjarco Schuurman, the Netherlands