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Class of 1934
Fred Topham was born in Toronto on August 10, 1917. He was educated at King George Public School and Runnymede High School. Prior to his enlistment in the Canadian Army, he worked as a hard-rock miner at the Wright Hargreaves mine at Kirkland Lake.Fred "Toppy" Topham volunteered for Army Service as a medical orderly on August 3, 1942, and subsequently served in Canada, the United States, Britain and Europe. During the final stages of the Second World War, Topham's unit, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, was attached to the 6th British Airborne Division. Following the successful invasion of Europe by Allied forces in June 1944, the German Army was relentlessly attacked and by March 1945 had been pushed east to the Rhine River. It was in the Allied assault on the Rhine that "Toppy" performed a series of rescue operations that earned him the Victoria Cross.
On March 23, 1945, Allied forces under the command of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery launched a massive assault that carried them across the Rhine and further into German territory. The following morning, Operation "Varsity" dropped thousands of Allied airborne troops into Germany on the east side of the Rhine. Paratroopers of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion jumped from their aircraft just before ten o'clock on the morning of March 24 and landed in scattered groups just north of Diersfordt Wood (near Wesel, Germany). The initial fighting was fierce, with most of the battalion encountering heavy fire from machine-guns and snipers. Despite sustaining a number of casualties, the unit had cleared its main objectives within two hours of landing. Fighting continued throughout the day.
While Corporal Fred Topham was treating casualties sustained during the drop, he witnessed the death by enemy fire of two medical orderlies from the 224th Field Ambulance who were trying to assist a wounded paratrooper. Acting instinctively, Topham immediately ran and administered to the wounded soldier in the open field, then carried him "through a hail of bullets" to a protected wooded area. Despite receiving a severe face wound and enduring considerable pain, Topham continued to evacuate the drop zone until it was cleared of wounded. He rejected any suggestion that he himself be evacuated from the battlefield. After receiving treatment for the wound to his nose and cheek, he asked to be allowed to return to the fray.
On his way back from the medical station, Topham encountered an armoured machine-gun carrier that, having been hit by enemy shelling, was on fire and in imminent danger of exploding from its own ammunition store. According to eyewitnesses, Topham rushed to the carrier and, unaided, lifted the three wounded occupants free. One man died almost at once, but Topham carried the other two to safety and dressed their wounds. For the rest of that afternoon, Topham continued to tend the wounded.
For his demonstrated courage throughout the day, "Toppy" Topham was recommended for the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the British Commonwealth, which King George V approved on August 2, 1945. Topham's heroism was acknowledged publicly with a parade and civic reception in Toronto on August 8, 1945; one hundred members of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion served as a guard of honour. After the war, Topham took little part in military affairs. On November 10, 1945 he laid the cornerstone of the new Sunnybrook Memorial Hospital for Veterans. There is also a plaque raised in his honour. After all of that, he returned to civilian life with a very short stay with the Toronto Police Department and finally as an employee of Toronto Hydro.
Frederick George "Toppy" Topham, V. C., died suddenly on May 31, 1974, at the age of fifty-six following an electrical accident. He was buried at Sanctuary Park Cemetery, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada.
In 2004, Fred's beneficiaries decided to sell the Victoria Cross. To keep the V. C. in Canada, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association, the Toronto District School Board, several corporations and 2,000 ordinary Canadians fund raised and were able to purchase Corporal Topham's medals from his family for $300,000.
On 24 March 2005, on the 60th anniversary of Corporal Topham's VC action, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association presented Topham's medals to the Canadian War Museum, where they will be on permanent display.
