Family honours trio of relatives with memorials continued from p.1 "I get a great sense of comfort from the thought of Bill somehow being repatriated even if only in memory," said Cutmore's sister, Rose (nee Cutmore) Daikens, who served as a WREN with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War and attended the ceremony in her uniform. "He and others like him were Canada's finest. I just adored him." Cutmore's nephew, Ken, said his uncle was born in Toronto to a large family and was one of nine children. This family eventually moved to Oakville. Rose said her brother enjoyed camping and fishing and playing the guitar, but also sang in his church's choir and played lacrosse. Cutmore's sister, Judy Dimond, travelled all the way from Kelowna, B.C. to attend the memorial. She was only nine years old when her brother was killed and as a result has few things to remember him by. That said, there is one memory she holds dear. "He came home on leave and it was his last time home. He gave me a hug and I was up against his uniform and the smell of it is still in my head. He called me `Buddy' because I was his brat baby sister," said Dimond. "I'm not just doing this for him. I'm sure my mother is smiling down at this whole thing, where we have finally put him to rest here, too." During the ceremony, family members read hymns from a Bible Cutmore carried with him during the war. A uniformed member of the Lorne Scots also paid his respects to Cutmore. Ken said Cutmore joined the Lorne Scots in 1940 and was initially sent to western Canada to help guard military installations. "Many of the soldiers who were out there said, `We want a more active part of the war instead of coming out here and guarding trees,'" said Ken. "So, he joined the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion, which became the 1st Special Service Force." This Special Service Force was the first ever joint Canadian/American commando unit and was tasked with sneaking behind enemy lines and sabotaging vital equipment like hydro electric dams, harassing enemy soldiers and seizing important positions, such as bridges. In Italy, Cutmore participated in a mission at Monte La Difensa in which the group scaled a mountain to surprise and destroy a fortified German position that had managed to stall the Allied advance. At Anzio, the group conducted night raids on German positions and reportedly placed stickers on the corpses of dead German soldiers, which read Das Dicke Ende Kommte Noch or The Worst is Yet to Come. It was here the Germans dubbed the group the Devil's Brigade, referring to the members as "black devils" because of the way Special Service Force soldiers would cover their faces in black shoe polish when engaging in covert 3 | Thursday, July 7, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Rose (nee Cutmore) Daikens activities at night. The group was also among the first Allied units to enter Rome following the German withdrawal on June 4, 1944. Cutmore's luck ran out in the south of France on Sept. 16, 1944. The group had been fighting to get the Germans out of an installation called Fort Castillon. The structure had been part of the Maginot Line, a series of fortifications built by the French along the French/German border to repel a German invasion. With the German invasion of France in 1940, the fortifications had been occupied by the Germans and were being used to keep the Allies out of Germany. Ken said there was a lull in the battle and Cutmore and three other men were playing cards in a foxhole when a German artillery shell hit them. Cutmore and two others were killed. "That was the only shot fired during the day, supposedly," said Ken. Rose remembers the day her family was told about her brother's death. "It was a terrible shock," she said. "There was this knock at the door and then a telegram. My sister and I were in the kitchen and it just knocked us out. It was terrible. We couldn't believe it because we were expecting him home." Ken noted the 1st Special Service Force has received numerous honours for its wartime actions over the years. In 2013, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to award the group the Congressional Gold Medal. The family ceremony also saw the interment of Kenneth Cutmore Sr., at the family plot on what would have been his 100th birthday. A marker was also established to remember Rose's husband George "Bud" Daikens who served in the Royal Canadian Navy on a minesweeper during the Second World War. Daikens died in 2009. An Oakville family honoured a trio of its members last Thursday at a memorial service at St. Jude's Cemetery. | photo by Catarina Muia - special to the Beaver skyway Jewellers FREE ring sale * with the purchase of any two Pandora rings *equal or lesser value. Only until July 17, 2016 2501 Third Line Rd., Oakville · 905.827.0700 Ring www.skywayjewellers.com