ANCONA WAR CEMETERY, Italy
The War Cemetery lies in the rural locality of Tavernelle, in the Commune and Province of Ancona, 3 kilometres south of the town of Ancona. Leave the Autostrada A14 at Ancona Sud and take the SS16 towards Ancona. After approximately 3 kilometres (via Pietro Filonze) turn right to pass in front of the wholesale fruit market and under a railway line. Then at the next junction turn left and the War Cemetery is found after several kilometres on the left shortly after a FINA petrol filling station, on the Strada di Passo Varano. The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime.
The cemetery site was chosen by the Army in September 1944, and burials were brought in from a wide area round about, extending from Pescara, 80 kilometres farther south, to Pesaro, over 48 kilometres north of Ancona. They include casualties from the first attacks on the eastern sector of the Gothic Line, near Fano and Pesaro, at the end of August and early in September 1944. Ancona itself had been taken by the Poles on 18th July, 1944, and being little touched by the war, served as the main port for supplies for the attack on the Gothic Line and for the final break-through the following spring at Argenta. There are now over 1,000, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.
A/117480 PTE. EUSTACE ALEXANDER, died Monday, 16th October 1944. Age 26.
Son of Laverne and Florence Alexander; husband of Margaret V. Alexander, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Grave Reference: I.A.17.
B/76890 PTE. JACK WILLIAM BARTLETT, died Thursday, 31st August 1944. Age 22.
Son of Claude William and Wilhelmina Allendale Bartlett, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Grave Reference: I.B.10.
B/57536 PTE. DAVID WILLIAM FORRESTER, died Saturday, 20th January 1945.
Grave Reference: I.G.8.
D/144659 PTE. JOHN PLAVETICH, died Friday, 12th January 1945.
Grave Reference: I.G.3.
F/32019 CPL. ROBERT DANIEL SMITH, died Wednesday, 6th September 1944. Age 29.
Son of Daniel and Mary Jane Smith.
Grave Reference: I.C.8.
B/134390 PTE. ROBERT WHEATLEY, died Saturday, 2nd September 1944. Age 20.
Son of Robert and Ethel Wheatley.
Grave Reference: I.H.1.