Hatters join relatives in England to lay soldier to rest
The past few months have been a roller-coaster ride for Medicine Hatters Paul and Heather Edmundson.
After hearing of the remains of a long-lost relative being found in a First World War field grave in Belgium, Paul and his relatives in Canada had much to process as they planned a trip to Europe to see the burial of Thomas Telford Edmundson.
“The bones were found all the way back in 2014,” Paul said. “After a while, and a lot of work combing through war records, they were able to narrow it down to one of eight soldiers that were killed on April 26, 1915.
“They went to Sunderland, England and got a potential relative to do a DNA test, and it ended up being a match. It was my first cousin that did the DNA test. Emails starting getting sent out, and they started talking about a funeral, so we all started making arrangements.”
Paul and Heather flew to England March 6, arrived in London the following day and were able to spend some time with Paul’s first cousins, doing “England things” with relatives.
The burial then took place March 14 in Belgium, with a large crowd looking on as Thomas Telford Edmundson finally got a proper burial.
“The service was extremely emotional,” Paul said. “Here’s a relative, that three months before this, we didn’t even know he existed. There was a bugle band. They brought the coffin in on the shoulders of six soldiers and these bugles are
“I’ve got to admit that I teared up a bit.” – Paul Edmundson on being in England for burial of lost relative
playing things like ‘The Last Post’ — I’ve got to admit that I teared up a bit.
“It was quite the ordeal all around. They eventually lowered him into the ground and took a gravestone with his name on it, and placed it where he now lies.”
Paul says the family is thankful for the opportunity to properly lay a relative to rest, as well as the chance to reconnect.
“There was either relatives I had never met, or met when I was too young,” he said. “I was five when I moved to Canada, so there was a lot of people I was just too young to remember.
“Being there with them, it was great. They didn’t treat us like we were family from Canada, they treated us as if we had lived there our whole lives. It was great to reconnect with all of these people — this was a really cool reason to connect.”
As for Thomas Telford, a 20year-old man who died just six days after being deployed in the First World War, his name lives on within the family — in an accidental, yet special way.
“Out of irony, the name Thomas has been used quite a bit in the family, and we didn’t even know about this relative,” said Heather. “Our son’s middle name is Thomas, our grandson’s middle name is Thomas and Paul’s brother gave his son the middle name of Thomas.
“The name has already lived on, without us knowing it, but just thinking about the sacrifices that he, and so many others made — it’s a name we’re proud to carry on.”