Name: Joseph Henry Godsoe Rank: Trooper Service Number: D/71032 Service: 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse Regiment), Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Date of Birth: April 15, 1921 Place of Birth: Digby, Digby County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: September 2, 1939 Place of Enlistment: Montreal, Quebec Address of Enlistment: Montreal, Quebec Age of Enlistment: 18 Height: 5 feet, 7 ¾ inches Complexion: Dark Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Dark Occupation: Labourer, Blacksmith Marital Status: Single (at enlistment) Religion: Anglican Next of Kin: Walter John Godsoe (Brother), Boys Industrial Home, St. John, NB Date of Death: August 11, 1944 Age: 23 Cemetery: Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, Cintheaux, Calvados, France Grave: Section XXIV, Row D, Grave 7 Commemorated on Page 317 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on July 5 Joseph Henry Godsoe was the son of Walter John Godsoe (1884-1937) and Mary Alice (Thebeau) Vantassel Godsoe (1896-1937), the brother of Martha Elizabeth Godsoe (b. 1920) and Walter John Godsoe (b. circa 1918), and the husband of Audrey Rebecca (Simpson) Godsoe. Joseph’s father was born in West Saint John, New Brunswick, and his mother was born in Smith’s Cove, Digby County, Nova Scotia. Joseph left home at the age of 14, and prior to the war he was employed by Jesse Thibault as a blacksmith in a shop in Digby County. After moving to Quebec and enlisting in 1939, Joseph and Aubrey were married May 16, 1940, in Montreal. Audrey was the daughter of Gordon Simpson and Ruby (Stanley) Simpson. Trooper Joseph Godsoe embarked Halifax on June 21, 1941, and disembarked in Gourock, Scotland July 1, 1941. From December 12, 1941, until February 5, 1943, he was assigned detention for being absent without leave for 6 days and loss of equipment between September 29 and October 5, 1941, at Hedley Detention Barracks. On May 6, 1943, he was posted to a training unit and on May 17, 1943, he qualified as a Driver I/C (internal combustion) Class III for motor vehicles. He then qualified as a Driver Mechanic Class III for Sherman Tanks in June of 1943. He embarked June 2, 1944, in England in advance of the D-Day Landings, and landed in France during Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944 with his armored unit as a tank driver. The 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade consisted of Joseph’s 10th Canadian Armored Regiment, the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars), and the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment). He was killed in action during Operation Totalize in the Falaise region of France on August 11, 1944. Joseph’s brother Walter wrote to the Canadian Army as late as March 7, 1949, inquiring on his brother’s status because Joseph’s fate was unknown to him. He received a reply on March 18, 1949, that Joseph was killed in action in August 1944. He is interred at the Bretteville-sur-Laize Cemetery in Normandy, France.

Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial findagrave