Sapper Dieudonné Lucien “Denny” Labarre was born in St-Éphrem d'Upton, Quebec to Edward and Alma La Barre. He had five sisters and one younger brother, Albert who served overseas in the artillery. His parents had moved from Quebec and were operating a family farm in Joyceville, Ontario where Denny did most of his growing up.
Denny left school at age 14 having completed Grade VIII. He enlisted as a sapper in Kingston, Ontario 17 July 1941. Had been working nearly eight years as a railway section hand for the Canadian National Railway and was living with his parents in Joyceville, Ontario. He was sent to Number 32 Basic Training Centre in Peterborough until 30 October when he transferred to A5 Canadian Engineer Training Centre in Camp Petawawa, Ontario. He was qualified as a Plate Layers Helper Group ‘C’ in November. He was sent to Camp Valcartier in Quebec in February 1942 en route to the United Kingdom where he arrived on 3 March. He was assigned to the Engineer Reinforcement Unit (ERU) in Hawley. In August, he joined the 3rd Battalion, RCE and qualified as Pioneer Group ‘C’ in November 1942. Since arriving in England, Denny spent over five weeks on and off in hospital. Details are not in his personal record, but flu and work-related injuries were common among troops.
In January 1943, Denny was sent back to the ERU, but returned to the 3rd Battalion in July. Hospital stays continued through this period but more interesting was a charge for being Absent Without Leave for 11 days in September for he forfeited 22 days pay and the cost of having been apprehended by the civil police. He stayed with the 3rd Battalion working as a tradesman until 30 March 1944 when he was posted to the 18th Field Company who were well into their preparation for the invasion in support of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. In his first month with the company, he trained and qualified as a driver.
The 18th Field Company landed on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944. Most of the company landed on “Mike Red”, the current site of the Juno Beach Centre in Courselles-sur-Mer, and cleared beach obstacles in up to four feet of water before the incoming tide made the task impossible. They continued inland that day, breaching obstacles in the dunes and in the minefields beyond. Another platoon landed with the 5thField Company as part of the initial beach clearance effort, tasked to clear underwater obstacles starting five minutes before the initial infantry assault began. They continued up the beach as the tide rose until they could be relieved by other sapper units. Over the next three months, they fought every engagement in the Battle of Normandy, helped cross the Seine with bridging and rafting operations, supported the clearance of the Channel ports and moved into Holland with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in preparation from Operation SWITCHBACK to clear the Breskens Pocket.
After having supported the crossing of the Leopold Canal and the amphibious assault across the Braakman Inlet, the company continued through the Breskens Pocket to the second German line of defence anchored on the towns of Breskens and Schoondyjke. The 9th Brigade launched their first attack on Breskens on the 21st of October and cleared to town by noon. A second attack was planned on Schoondyjke the following day. The following day, before the attack, Number 3 Platoon was busy clearing the route to Schoondijke but made little progress due to sporadic shelling. As bad luck would have it, a friendly artillery ‘stonk’ fired at 11 o'clock to support the assault, fell short and a shell landed directly on the spot where a party from 3 Platoon had taken shelter. Sappers Logan and Love were killed instantly while Sapper Labarre was mortally wounded. He was taken to 14 Canadian Field Ambulance where died a short time later. Nine other sappers were wounded. The unit War Diary records this as "an Unfortunate Accident".
Denny was initially buried behind the Roman Catholic Church in the Village of Biervliet and later moved to the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium along with 847 other Canadian soldiers.
Return to Part 5: Tributes to the Fallen Sappers of the Scheldt
