Lieutenant Felix Olivier Bolte was born in Toronto on 22 April 1894, the son of Auguste Bolte and his wife Elsie Armour Miles, of 14, Willcocks St., Toronto. His family was a member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. He attended Upper Canada College where he won the Gibson Medal two years in succession.

He was a 20-year-old student at the University of Toronto when the Great War started in July 1914. Felix mobilized with the 2nd Queen’s Own Rifles Regiment. After taking an infantry officers’ training course, he qualified as a lieutenant. He was appointed to the 35th Battalion the following May 1915, at Niagara Camp and sailed for England in October and then onto France landing at Havre.

In early June 1916, the enemy launched a brief but bitter assault at Mount Sorrel, in the Ypres Salient, Belgium. Felix was posted to the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR), an infantry unit, despite the name, on June 4th. In mid-September, during an attack near Courcelette, he was shell-shocked and sent to a rest camp but was back with the 5th CMR within six days.

In November 1916, while on leave in England, he was hospitalized with bronchitis and recovered. He was retained in England until March 1918, being posted to the 3rd (Toronto) Battalion. He spent the month of May attached to the 1st Light Trench Mortar Battery.

On August 15, 1918, the last great campaign of the war, known as the Last One Hundred Days campaign, was launched near Amiens, France. By the end of August, the CEF had advanced to the second last great defensive trench, the Drocourt-Quéant Line. The D-Q Line was finally breached on September 02. During this attack, Felix was killed in action by enemy shell fire near Cagnicourt, France.

He is buried in the Dominion Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, Grave Reference: I. G. 5.

With info from Eric Armour and the Heritage and Archive Committee of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.