We regret to advise that Sapper Adolphus Otto (Al) Larocque (Ret'd) passed away peacefully in the Nanaimo General Hospital on 15 February 2006 after a battle with cancer.

Born in Chapple, Ontario in 1921, Al rode the rails during the depression then got work in a sawmill in Ontario at the beginning of the Second World War. He enlisted in February 1941 in the Canadian Army (Active Force) and served in Canada with the Royal Canadian Artillery before transferring to the Royal Canadian Engineers. Al served with 11 Field Park Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, in Northern France, the Netherlands and Germany as a low-bed tractor driver for a bulldozer and worked on numerous bridging projects, many under enemy fire, including the crossing of the Rhine River at Emmerich.

Al remained in the Army after the war, transferring to the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. He served on Canadian Army bases in the Yukon, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. As well, he served with the first United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt, Israel, Syria and Lebanon in 1956-57. Al left the Canadian Army in the late 1960s and worked in the Security Department of the University of British Columbia until the 1980s. Al travelled to Ottawa and the Netherlands in May 2005 as an official representative of the Royal Canadian Engineers celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands.

A memorial service will be held at First Memorial Funeral Services, 1720 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, BC at 2:00 P.M., Saturday 25 February 2006. Condolences may be directed to the family at valarocque@shaw.ca or to #804 - 1 Chapel Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5H1. Donations in lieu of flowers to the Canadian Cancer Society.