The memory of a fallen soldier from Balmoral lives on in the next generations of his family who crossed the ocean to pay respects at his gravesite.
Private Charles Albert Dodd enlisted in November 1942 and went overseas the following June with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. While serving in Italy, he died on May 11, 1944, at the young age of 21. He was awarded the Volunteer Medal, the Italy Star and the Defence Star, among other honours.
Exactly 80 years later, family members travelled from Manitoba to visit his grave in Italy’s Bari War Cemetery.
Leanne Dodd had long planned to visit the grave of her Great-Uncle Charles, who was her grandfather’s brother. She and her kids were ready to go in 2020 until their plans were derailed by the pandemic.
Fast-forward four years and her plans finally fell into place. In May, she travelled overseas with her fiancé Rich and her children, 21-year-old Noah and 19-year-old Lauryn.
“We had always talked about going to Europe when the kids graduated high school, and Italy was the kids’ first choice,” said Leanne, who also grew up in Balmoral. “I knew Charlie was buried there, and once we started learning more about him, we decided we couldn’t miss out on visiting his grave while we were there.”
They began their trip in France, where Rich’s great-uncle Edward Garlinski was also killed in service at age 23 in 1944, three months after Charles. They travelled to Caen to visit his gravesite.
After that, they journeyed to Italy and took a 7.5-hour train ride to Bari from Venice. They arrived on May 11, coincidentally the 80th anniversary of Charles Dodd’s death and the day before Mother’s Day.
While they walked through the cemetery, they shared the moment with Leanne’s parents back in Stony Mountain through FaceTime so they could experience the same excitement in the meaningful moment.
“It was really, really emotional. He was only 21 and my son is the same age,” Leanne said. “His mother never got to see this place and I felt overwhelmed to think of how incredibly sad she must have been — and all the other mothers of the thousands of graves in just the Bari Cemetery.”
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Margaret Alice Dodd, who was Charles’s mother and Leanne’s great-grandmother, had written a letter in 1949 to the government asking about his grave or memorial. Leanne found the letter through the Veterans Affairs Canada website and printed out a copy.
“She wanted to be sure his stone memorialized him with his name and who he was and that there were people who loved him,” Leanne said.
“I took a copy of that letter with me since she could never visit this place. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I folded it up into a little square and tucked into the rosebush in front of his grave. The next day was Mother’s Day, so it all worked out together for the perfect timing.”
Both cemeteries they visited in France and Italy were beautifully maintained, she added, with rosebushes throughout the Bari cemetery and various other plants brightening the Caen cemetery.
“We actually met the groundskeeper in France. He didn’t speak English but he was wearing a Canadian hockey hat, and we were able to say enough that he took us to that grave. We thanked him so much because it was so beautiful there,” Leanne said.
“The cemetery in Italy was the same — the grass and the flowers were immaculate. Everything is so beautiful, which is a beautiful tribute to the people there.”
Looking back on the journey, Leanne was overcome with emotion to recall its magnitude.
“I believe that Charlie had another brother who served in the war with him and went back to visit his grave. But I don’t think anyone else in our family has ever gone there,” she said.
“I just felt like suddenly he wasn’t alone. We were there to be with him. That’s how it felt because he’d been laying there for 80 years all by himself. I felt motherly toward him.”
For her children, Leanne said the experience probably gives them more appreciation and understanding of what happened during the Second World War.
“I think it became a little bit closer to home for them, not being able to imagine themselves in such a position,” she said.
“For Remembrance Day, we always watch the services and observe the moment of silence. Of course, it’s so much more meaningful this year — for all of us.”
In the next couple of years, Leanne’s brothers and cousins hope to visit Dodd Lake in northern Manitoba, which is named in honour of Charles Dodd. Similarly, northern Manitoba’s Garlinski Lake is named after Rich’s great-uncle Edward Garlinski.
Closer to home, Charles Dodd’s name is on the cenotaph in Argyle for the local community keep him in their hearts. A memorial written after his death remembered him “for his cheery smile, helpful way and kind and generous manner.” His memory lives on.
