Private Josephat Dépatie

Son of Éloi Depatie and Antoinette Lapointe, of L'Orignal, Prescott, Ontario.

Enlisted in the 41st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, he sailed for England, arriving in Plymouth on October 28, 1915. Integrated into the 23rd Reserve Battalion on February 20, 1916, he was transferred to the 22nd Battalion on April 15. He set foot in France on the 16th and joined his new unit in the front line on May 6. He was killed in action on August 9, 1916 in the Voormezeele-Saint-Éloi sector, at Vierstraat, Belgium.

Josephat stated being born in 1897 in Vankleek Hill, Prescott, Ontario, but thorough research of baptism records found no evidence that he was born there. He is not listed in the 1901 Census, even under a different last name. His father and mother were both listed in the 1901 Census as being single, and the Vankleek Hill records indicate that they married there in 1905. The only possible conclusion is that he was adopted after his parents were married. The 1911 Census shows that he was born in 1898 and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission agrees with 1898 as his birth year, as they engraved on his headstone that he died at 18 years old.