Lieutenant John Norbert Jeffers

1919 - 1944  (25 years)

• Name	John Norbert Jeffers
  Prefix	Lieutenant
  Born	1919  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Military	WW2 - Lieutenant - Royal Canadian Regiment - Army  [1]
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-157846P
  Died	26 Jan 1944  [1]
  Buried	Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, San Donato, Ortona, Chieti, Italy
  Person ID	I157846	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	John Morriss Jeffers,   b. Abt 1890, of, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Mildred,   b. Abt 1890, of, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F45149	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Helen Grace,   b. Abt 1920, of, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Last Modified	26 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F45150	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Writing for the alumni magazine, Laurier Campus, in November 1995, Sunil Kuruvilla reveals one such instance of trans-Atlantic connectedness. Jeffers and Earl Peppler had both grown up in Kitchener, though the men did not know each other. Through the course of the war, their families became close, and through letters back and forth, urged the two soldiers to meet each other. They finally met on January 26, 1944, though not under the circumstances that their families had hoped. While leading his platoon in Motta, Italy, Jeffers was shot and killed. In a letter home, Peppler told his parents, "Although I didn't reach Lieutenant Jeffers until after it was all over, they tell me he died like a true soldier … even after [the sniper's bullet] struck, he continued to call out commands and ordered his men to send up a smoke screen." His actions, wrote Lieutenant-Colonel F. H. Mather, "were heroic, and in giving his life [he] was instrumental in saving those of many others." Peppler later carried Jeffers' body from the field in their first face-to-face encounter. The Cord Weekly 9 Nov 2005

  
  

• Sources

  [S1886] Military - Canada - Second World War Service Files Canadian Armed Forces War Dead. Jeffers, John Norbert 25 years Birthdate: 1919 Died: 1944 Jan 26 Rank: Lieutenant Unit: Royal Canadian Regiment Force: Army Service Number: Additional Details son of John Morriss & Mildred Jeffers - wife Helen Grace Teffers of Kitchener, Ontario

  
  

• Event Map

  Buried - - Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, San Donato, Ortona, Chieti, Italy  = Link to Google Earth