Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMay 1894
Place of BirthRivière au Menard, Gaspé, Quebec
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinBaptiste Tapp, father, Fox River, Gaspe, Quebec
Trade / CallingBushman
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number4079008
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentPort Arthur, Ontario
Address at Enlistment289 Park Street, Port Arthur, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentNovember 11, 1917
Age at Enlistment23
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 11, 1968
Age at Death74
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
PlotC-34-17

Tapp, Walter

Likely born a day or two earlier, William Wilfred (Walter) Tapp was baptized on 30 May 1894 in Rivière au Renard (Fox River), Gaspé, Quebec, the village now amalgamated with the town of Gaspé. Both from the area, his parents Jean Baptiste Tapp and Berenice Bond had married on 6 November 1876 in Rivière au Renard. On the various censuses over the years Batiste’s occupation was given as cultivateur (farmer) and pêcheur (fisherman). Known children born to the couple were Marie Lymphonse Florida (1878), Marie (1880-1881), John Batiste Mathieu (1882), Marie Rose Devilda (1884-1899), Marie Eulalie Berenice (1886), Joseph Cormick (1888), Marie Adelaide (1890), Marie Jeanne/Mary Jane (1892), Walter, Joseph Godfroi (1896-1897), Marie Delore (1898), Marie Donalda (1900), and Marie Ernestine (1903).

By 1917 Walter and his brother Cormick were living in Port Arthur, Ontario, both working as bushmen. Drafted under the Military Service Act, Walter had his medical examination on 11 November 1917 in Port Arthur. On attestation his date of birth was given as 16 March 1895 and his father Baptiste in Fox River as next of kin. Due to a fracture of his arm during childhood and some lingering limited use of his arm, his medical category was B2. First serving as a Private with the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment, Walter was transferred to the 10th Battalion Canadian Garrison Regiment in early July of 1918. Organized in April 1918 in Military District 10, the 10th Battalion CGR was formed to perform garrison duties in Canada. With the end of the war Walter was discharged from service in consequence of being in a category lower that B on 9 December 1918 in Winnipeg, rank of Private.

Walter’s brother Cormick was also drafted under the Military Service Act. Having had his medical examination in March of 1918, he was called up for service that April in Port Arthur. First with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment, he was discharged in June to re-enlist with the Royal Engineers, Inland Waterways and Docks. According to a later Imperial War Services Gratuities record, Cormick served with the Royal Engineers, Inland Waterways and Docks from 8 June 1918 until 13 May 1919, rank of Sapper. Registered during the 1st quarter of 1919 in London, Cormick married Elizabeth O’Neill. The couple arrived in St John’s, Newfoundland on 11 April 1919 aboard the Scandinavian. At the time of the 1921 census Cormick and Elizabeth were living in Montreal, Quebec.

After the war it appears that Walter stayed in northwestern Ontario, with various Voters lists from 1949 to 1963 placing him in the Hudson area and working as a bushman/labourer. According to his later obituary he moved to Kenora in 1964.

Walter died on 11 May 1968 in Pinecrest Home for the Aged in Kenora. At the time of his death he was survived by his sister Delore (Leon) Minville of Montreal. Walter is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. Previously unmarked, his grave marker was provided by Last Post Fund in August of 2020.

By Judy Stockham

 


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