Citation(s);
Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of Marie Dumoulin (deceased 1896) and Pierre Lacroix (remarried to Virginie Forget 1899 and died 1906). He had declared that he was born on November 10th, 1874 when he enlisted and he named his younger brother Félix, of Montréal, as his closest relative.
Prior to his active duty, he served in the 65th Mont-Royal Carabiniers Regiment, where he was promoted to company sergeant major. Enlisted in the 69th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at that rank, he embarked for Great Britain on April 17, 1916, and landed on the 27th in Liverpool, England. On April 4, 1917, he was assigned to the 10th Reserve Battalion at that rank. On August 14, 1917, he was demoted to private due to an excess of personnel at that rank. On the following August 25, he was transferred to the 22nd Battalion. He crossed the English Channel and set foot in France on the 28th. He joined his new unit on the 30th and went to the front lines on the 31st in the Neuville-Vitasse sector. Promoted to corporal on November 30, on December 5, he took part in work detail at the Canada Trench, which was under German artillery fire between the base of Vimy Ridge and the front line. On the 12th, with a detachment of 100 men, he transported water supply materials to the front line near Méharicourt, Somme. He was killed by an artillery shell during this task along with another soldier, while five others were wounded. He was buried at the Rietz Military Cemetery, located about 3.76 miles (6 km) north of Arras. After the war, his remains were exhumed and reburied at La Tagette Cemetery in Neuville-Saint-Vaast.
Digital gallery of Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
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Memorial Plaque
Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Grave marker
Grave marker -
Wartime diary
Section of the 22nd Battalion War Diary surrounding the circumstances of his death. -
Circumstances of death registers
Circumstances of death registers -
Newspaper clipping
La Presse February 2, 1918.
Digital gallery of
Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
Digital gallery of
Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
Digital gallery of
Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
Digital gallery of
Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
Digital gallery of
Corporal François-Xavier Lacroix
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 270 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
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LA TARGETTE BRITISH CEMETERY Pas de Calais, France
Neuville-St Vaast is a village 6.5 kilometres north of Arras, a little east of the road from Bethune to Arras. LA TARGETTE BRITISH CEMETERY lies to the south-west of the village on the north-west side of the road to the village of Maroeuil.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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