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Corporal Frederick George Topham Memorial Plaque

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  • Plaque

Municipality/Province: Toronto (Etobicoke), ON

Memorial number: 35021-002

Type: Provincial Military Plaque

Address: 2 Civic Centre Ct

Location: At the Etobicoke Civic Centre.

GPS coordinates: Lat: 43.64308205401213   Long: -79.56440393051334

Submitted by: Molly Sutherland; Terry MacDonald

Adjacent to the Cenotaph, a provincial plaque commemorating Corporal Frederick George Topham, V.C., an Etobicoke war Hero. It was erected in 1980. Refer to memorial number 35021-001


Inscription found on memorial

CORPORAL FREDERICK GEORGE TOPHAM, V.C.
1917 – 1974

Born in Toronto, Topham was educated here before working in
the mines at Kirkland Lake. He enlisted on August 3, 1942,
and served at home and abroad as a medical orderly. On March
24, 1945, while serving with the 1st Canadian Parachute Bat-
talion, he defied heavy enemy fire to treat casualties sustained
in a parachute drop east of the Rhine, near Wesel. Rejecting
treatment for his own severe face wound, he continued to
rescue the injured for six hours. While returning to his com-
pany, he saved three occupants of a burning carrier which
was in danger of exploding. For these exceptional deeds,
Topham was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decor-
ation for valour in the British Commonwealth.

Erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Recreation

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