Dorion, Pius

Pius Dorion was born in Prince Edward Island on 21 August 1896.

A labourer, Dorion enlisted in the 25th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles) in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, on 30 April 1915. After initial training in Canada, he embarked for England with the battalion on SS Saxonia on 20 May 1915, arriving there on 29 May 1915.

After furthering training and organization in Kent, the 25th Battalion embarked for France on 15 September 1915, arriving the next day. One month later, Dorion and his comrades lined the streets of Locre (now Loker), Belgium, to greet King George V and the Prince of Wales during their tour of the area.

On 18 February 1916, Dorion’s pay was docked by the commanding officer of the 25th Battalion in order to defray the cost of replacing the gas mask that Dorion had lost through “neglect”.

Dorion died from a fractured skull at No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, in France, on 20 June 1916. He had received the wound on the front lines at Hill 60, in Belgium, but the exact date is not recorded. However, he arrived at the casualty clearing station “dangerously ill” on 19 June 1916. An examination of the 25th Battalion’s war diary indicates that the unit had been subjected to heavy bombardment from artillery, trench mortars, and rifle grenades from the time it had entered the lines at Hill 60, on 15 June 1916. There was no reprieve from that storm of steel until the battalion was relieved by the 2nd Battalion on the night of 20–21 June 1916.

Pius Dorion is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, in Belgium.