Louis Jules Rodolphe Lemieux

Lieutenant Louis Rodolphe Lemieux, M.C., was just twenty years old when he was killed in France during the last months of the First World War. Born in Montreal on April 27, 1898, he was the son of the Honourable Rodolphe Lemieux, M.P., and Berthe Jetté Lemieux of Ottawa. He served with the 22nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Quebec Regiment, the famous French-Canadian battalion known as the Van Doos.

Lemieux belonged to a generation of young Canadians who came of age in wartime. He was still barely more than a boy when he became an officer and went overseas. In France he served in one of the most respected battalions of the Canadian Corps, a formation that earned a hard reputation for courage and effectiveness on the Western Front.

In the summer of 1918, the Canadian Corps was at the centre of the Allied advance that would finally break the German Army. These battles, now remembered as the Hundred Days, were victories bought at a heavy price. The Canadians advanced through defended villages, trenches, roads, and strongpoints, often under intense fire. Lemieux served through this brutal final campaign with the 22nd Battalion.

He was killed on August 29, 1918, in Pas-de-Calais, France. He was only 20 years old. His death came less than three months before the Armistice.

For gallantry in the field, Lemieux was awarded the Military Cross. He was also honoured by France as a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, translated as Knight of the Legion of Honour. This French award marked him as a man whose service and sacrifice were recognized not only by Canada and the British Empire, but also by the country whose soil he helped defend.

Lieutenant Lemieux is buried in Ligny-St. Flochel British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France, grave III. B. 20. His name is commemorated on page 448 of the First World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa.

He was young, decorated, and gone before victory came. Like so many of the men of the Van Doos, his story is part of both Canadian military history and French-Canadian remembrance.