Lionel Mariner Palmer
Lionel Palmer was born on the 12th of October, 1923, in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He grew up as a member of the English Church. He lived on 533 Percy Street, with his parents Mr. Philip Palmer, and Ms. Palmer, as well as his older sister, Dorothy, in Ottawa, Ontario. During the summer, he and his family would go to Dorchester to stay with their Grandmother. Lionel was known to love swimming, canoeing, fishing, as well as skiing. He was an excellent scholar, graduating in the top 10% of his class, and an accomplished skier at the Ottawa Ski Club.
After graduating from Glebe Collegiate, Palmer would enlist in the Canadian Army as a Private in Ottawa. Once he completed basic training, and his unit was to be sent to Britain, he was still 18 which was too young to be sent overseas. Due to his excellent grades, he was selected for officer’s training. Here, he received his nickname “Fritz” in relation to his blonde hair, after which he would be commissioned to the 21st Armed Regiment.
In spring 1943, at age 19, Lionel was sent to England where he would continue his training and await D-Day. On the 16th of June, 1944, Lionel would land in Normandy with the Governor General's Footguards, a part of the Royal Canadian Armored Corps. He would go on to fight in the liberation of coastal France and Belgium. Lionel was mentioned in dispatches and was also scheduled to receive the Military Cross. Of the most notable battles he took part in, and his last, was the Battle of the Scheldt, in the Netherlands. During this battle he would show bravery and courage in leading a platoon of canadian tanks, with the 4th Canadian Armored Division in order to clear the north bank of the Scheldt Estuary of heavy german forces.
However, during his time as a tank commander, specifically during the battle of the Scheldt, he would be shot in the head by a German sniper located in a tree. On October 25th, 1944, Lionel Palmer would pass away from his injuries, at the age of 22. He was buried in Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, in the Netherlands.
Inscription to the memory of Lieutenant LIONEL MARINER PALMER on the family grave marker in Pinecrest Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario.
Grave Marker
Biography submitted by his sister Dorothy Moorehouse
Works Cited
Lionel Mariner Palmer - The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada, https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2642158?Lionel%20Mariner%20(Fritz)%20Palmer . Accessed 1 November 2023.
“Second World War Service Files – War Dead, 1939 to 1947.” Collection Search, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=kia&id=42432&lang=eng. Accessed 26 October 2023.
The biographies appearing on this website have been written by students, roughly the same age as the soldiers they are studying, using primary source evidence from Library and Archives Canada, in addition to primary source documents from The Virtual War Memorial on veterans.ca. We welcome any corrections or additions you may have to these biographies.
'If we do preserve it, we honour them, and when we in our turn pass on, we will know that behind us lives a generation of free men and of free women to be the keepers of this great heritage of ours - Canada.'
- Ian A. McPhee, former student at GCI, 1937.
Glebe Collegiate Institute
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
