Goldwin Lapp

Goldwin “Goldie” Dimma Lapp was born on March 28, 1894. He grew up in Uxbridge and Leaskdale but was living in Toronto when the war broke out. He was studying to become a pharmacist and was listed as a druggist on his sign-up papers. He was one of the first local men to enlist (Jan. 4, 1915) and was assigned to the 20th (Central Ontario) Canadian Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force, which had been mobilized in Toronto.

Private Lapp sailed with the 20 th Battalion on the SS Megantic to England in late May, and they were stationed at Sandling, England, receiving training in “physical drills, bayonet fighting, fire discipline and control, musketry, attack & defence, map reading, march discipline, trench warfare, outposts, patrolling woods, village fighting, entrenching, advance and rear guard”.

In September the 20 th Battalion was assigned to the 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, Canadian Corps and sent to northern France. They quickly joined troops at the front at Ypres where life became a routine of “18 days on the front and 6 days in the rear, all the while battling lice, trench foot, and disease.” Their assignment was to patrol No Man’s Land every night and to repair wire and trenches every day during continuous shelling.

By the end of 1916 Goldie was a Lance Corporal, second-in-command in a platoon and responsible for 15 men. On January 5, 1917 they started building “dummy“ trenches near Lens, using them to practise. They moved into position early in the morning of Jan. 17 th , 3 miles east of Lens. Their attack started at 7:45 am. In one hour, the attacking force, operating on an 850-yard front, blew up more than 40 dug-outs, exploded three ammunition dumps, captured two machine-guns and two trench mortars, and destroyed several others, taking 100 German prisoners of the 11th Reserve Division.

Lance-Corporal Lapp was one of 135 injured soldiers that day. He died of his wounds the next day, January 18, and was buried nearby at the Barlin Communal Cemetery, Barlin, France. There is also a memorial plaque dedicated to Goldwin D. Lapp in his hometown Historic Leaskdale Church.

We Will Remember Them