SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The 87-year-old sister of a decorated member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment who was killed in Italy in 1943 says she wishes she could visit the bay on a lake north of Gameti named for her older brother.

Members of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment patrolled to Bober Bay - on Hardisty Lake - last week, to mount a plaque dedicated to Warrant Officer Second Class Walter Bober - the Distinguished Conduct Medal winner, who was killed in action in Italy in December 1943, for whom the bay was named in 1962. - Loyal Edmonton Regiment photo

But to view the plaque regiment members mounted in memory of Walter Lawrence Bober last weekend, Marie Moar would have to get to Yellowknife from her home in Lethbridge, then travel days by snowmobile to and from the site - a 750-kilometre round trip.

When a regiment member contacted her to tell her a group of reservists were heading out on a patrol to Hardisty Lake to mount a plaque at Bober Bay - named after Bober in 1962 - Moar said she asked if there was any way she could come along.

"I think it's a wonderful gesture," she said. "I asked them if I could come up and he said, 'No, you'd never get close to it'."

Maj. Jayson Tarzwell - of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment - said 18 reservists took two days on snowmobile trails to arrive at the site and spent another two days building a cairn - a pile of stones - upon which to mount the plaque.

"Following the war, a number of geographical features in the provinces and territories were named after fallen personnel," he said, adding more than 300 geographical sites were named for fallen soldiers in the territory and in Nunavut, starting in the 1940s. "A short history of Bober's service and life will be placed in an accessible container at the base of the cairn so the public can learn more about his service."

Unfortunately, said Tarzwell, the only people likely to come across the site are local Tlicho members.

Seven siblings

Moar said she is the only living member of a brood of seven siblings and Walter was the third of four brothers.

She said her parents moved to Canada from Poland in 1927 and farmed near Vermilion, Alta.

"I remember he worked on the farm and there wasn't much work for anyone, because it was the depression," she said.

She was about 10 years old when the war broke out and she remembers her brother joining up with the regiment right away, she said.

She was close to him and they exchanged letters while he was overseas, until finally the letters stopped, said Moar.

The day he died

"We lived on a farm just out of town. I remember coming home from school and my father coming up, and telling me right in the middle of the road on a little hill, saying he's gone, 'We just got the telegram,'" she said. Shortly before his death, Bober was acting-platoon commander and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for a courageous solo-attack on a fortified German position, during an offensive against the town of Colle D'anchise, west of the Biferno River. Bober's platoon came under fire from German machine guns while leading the attack. He turned over command of his company, and attacked the German guns alone, carrying a PIAT (projector, infantry, anti-tank) grenade launcher, states a battlefield citation.

"He immediately fired five PIAT bombs into the position, completely destroying it, inflicting nine casualties on the enemy," states the citation. "This gallant action allowed another rifle company on the right flank to continue its advance without loss, and although Sgt. Bober was wounded during the action, he returned to his platoon, resumed command, and continued to fight it throughout the battle."

Weeks later, on Dec. 10, 1943, during the advance to the city of Ortona, Bober was killed.

He was buried at the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery in Italy.

Moar said she has never visited the NWT.

"He was a loving, caring guy," she said. "I remember him carrying me around on his shoulders and I used to write him a lot when he was overseas. He was a really nice man."