W.R. Mathers was born 12/Oct/1922 to Thomas and Isabella Mathers, the eldest of 4 children that included Edward, Mary, and Rita.
He was an electrician by trade and in high school played the clarinet with the Kiwanis Band for 2 years.
Mathers enlisted with the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards R.C.A.C. and fought in the Mediterranean Theatre. He was grievously wounded, lying in the hospital for day before succumbing to his wounds on 16/Dec/1944.
He was interred in the Coriano Ridge British Empire Cemetery now called the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery, 2 miles north of Coriano, Italy.
Coriano Ridge was the last important ridge in the way of the Allied advance in the Adriatic sector in the autumn of 1944. Its capture was the key to Rimini and eventually to the River Po. German parachute and panzer troops, aided by bad weather, resisted all attacks on their positions between 4 and 12 September 1944.
On the night of 12 September the Eighth Army reopened its attack on the Ridge, with the 1st British and 5th Canadian Armoured Divisions. This attack was successful in taking the Ridge, but marked the beginning of a week of the heaviest fighting experienced since Cassino in May, with daily losses for the Eighth Army of some 150 killed.
The site for the cemetery was selected in April 1945 and was created from graves brought in from the surrounding battlefields.
Coriano Ridge War Cemetery contains 1,939 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
L. Cpl. W, Ralph Mathers was awarded the:
1939-1945 Star
Italy star
Defence Medal
War Medal 1939-1945
CVSM with clasp
There is no headstone photo available at this time.
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
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