McRobb, Corporal John Raymond

Service highlights

  • Name: John Raymond McRobb
  • Service number: A/11002
  • Rank: Corporal
  • Honours: Efficiency Medal (E.M.); awarded the 1937 Coronation Medal
  • Born: March 24, 1911, St. Marys, Ontario
  • Pre-war work: Sheet metal worker (C. Richardson and Company, from 1934)
  • Early service: Joined the militia as a boy soldier (1924), served many years before WWII
  • Mobilized: September 4, 1939 (Perth Regiment, Stratford), initially as a Sergeant
  • Overseas: Sailed October 5, 1941; England, then Italy (landed November 1943)
  • Killed in action: May 26, 1944, Italy
  • Burial: Cassino War Cemetery, Italy
  • Commemorated: WWII plaque on the south wall of the St. Marys Town Hall

A Life and Service, Remembered

John Raymond McRobb was born in St. Marys on March 24, 1911, and he was a soldier long before most men his age even considered the idea. As a teenager he joined the militia as a boy soldier and stayed with it for years, building a reputation for long service and good conduct. That steady commitment ran alongside an ordinary working life. By the mid-1930s he was employed as a sheet metal worker with C. Richardson and Company, the kind of skilled trade that kept families afloat and communities running.

When WWII came, McRobb did not step into uniform as someone new. He was mobilized with the Perth Regiment in Stratford on September 4, 1939, already trusted with responsibility as a Sergeant, and soon promoted to Company Sergeant Major. In October 1941 he sailed overseas with the Perths, spending the next two years in England as the regiment trained and waited for the moment they would finally be committed.

That moment came in Italy in November 1943. McRobb landed with the battalion and fought in the early, costly actions that “blooded” the Perth Regiment, including the fighting at the Fiumicino River on January 17, 1944. Months later his career took a turn. He reverted in rank to Corporal, but what matters most is what followed: he continued forward, serving as a rifle section commander, still carrying responsibility in the place where it mattered most, with men depending on him.

In May 1944 the tempo rose again as Canadian forces moved into the Liri Valley to break through the German defences known as the Gustav Line. The Perths crossed the Melfa River on May 25, securing the far bank as a prelude to what came next. The day was hot, dry, and dusty, and a veteran later recalled McRobb’s remark that he wished he were back in St. Marys at the Royal Edward Hotel, enjoying a cold pint. It is a small human detail, but it lands hard, because it captures what soldiers carried with them into battle: home, ordinary comfort, and the life they hoped to return to.

The following day, May 26, 1944, the battalion advanced toward the Liri River under heavy fire from mortars, anti-tank guns, and machine guns. In that fighting, Corporal John Raymond McRobb was killed in action. He was buried in the Cassino War Cemetery in Italy, and his name is remembered at home on the WWII plaque at the St. Marys Town Hall.

Major battles and operations

  • Italy, early operations: Landing and initial combat service with the Perth Regiment (Nov 1943 onward)
  • Fiumicino River (17 Jan 1944): early, costly battle experience for the regiment
  • Liri Valley, Gustav Line breakout (May 1944):
    • Melfa River crossing (25 May 1944)
    • Advance toward the Liri River (26 May 1944), killed in action

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