For almost a century, the remains of three Canadians killed in the First World War lay buried in an empty piece of land between a hospital and a prison in a small township in northern France. They were discovered in September 2010 when a construction crew started digging. The only clues to the remains’ identities were buttons bearing the insignia of the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s 16th Battalion, and a shoulder badge with the words “Canadian Scottish.”Now, a seven-year process made possible by historical records and science has told third- and fourth-generation descendants of Pte. William Del Donegan, Pte. Henry Edmonds Priddle and Sgt. Archibald Wilson where their relatives were laid to rest. The three soldiers from Manitoba died during the Battle of Hill 70, which began on Aug, 15, 1917. They were publicly identified on Tuesday. “As a forensic anthropologist, it’s about returning their identities,” said Sarah Lockyer. “For 100 years they remained faceless and nameless, and now they no longer are, and families can have a place to pay their respects.”Lockyer is the co-ordinator for the Department of National Defence’s Casualty Identification Program, which seeks to identify remains from among the more than 27,000 Canadians killed in the first and second world wars and the Korean conflict who have no known graves. Since 2007, the program has helped identify 28 Canadian soldiers and 19 soldiers from other countries. Lockyer herself has worked on 31 sets of remains since she joined the program in 2016, and has confirmed the identities of six.The process of identifying remains has no time limit, and can be complicated by numerous factors, including how long the body has been buried, and where; what type of soil it was buried in; how much water runs through the soil; and how much vegetation has grown over the site. But first, local police have to rule out the possibility that the remains are the result of ...
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