100 years later, soldier honoured, his life and death pieced together
Archeologists, 100-year-old records, modern DNA sleuthing and members of one of the Canadian Army’s most storied units have combined to lay to rest a soldier of the First World War.
On Wednesday, the museum in the Bay Street Armoury took possession of a uniform button, a bayonet and pieces of a gas mask recovered from the body of Private Reginald Joseph Winfield Johnston, who died Aug. 15 or 16, 1917, at the Battle of Hill 70 near Loos-en-Gohelle, France, at the age of 22.
Making the handover of the artifacts was Sgt. Dan MacKenzie, of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), a 17-year reservist and a veteran of overseas combat service in Afghanistan.
MacKenzie, a 34-year-old married father of two, commanded the nine-member funeral detail sent overseas by the Canadian Scottish, with support from Veterans Affairs Canada, to bury Johnston’s remains on Aug. 24 at the Loos British Cemetery. He and his comrades returned on Saturday.
He said commanding the funeral party was a huge honour, with links to his regiment, his country, history and his own experience as a Canadian combat soldier.
“There is a lot wrapped up in all that,” he said. “It means a great deal to me.”
MacKenzie also got a chance to meet Johnston’s elderly niece, who told him of the emptiness felt by the family when they received a telegram to say Johnston was missing in action and presumed dead. So he was heartened to be part of something that gave some peace and closure.
In the First World War, Canada sent about 425,000 soldiers overseas, and about 60,000 were killed. Those who were identified were buried in cemeteries in France. It is the task of the U.K.based Commonwealth War Graves Commission to maintain those graveyards.
But it’s also the commission’s responsibility to take charge of new burials. In a conflict such as the First World War, in which thousands were killed in trenches, buried by explosions or even interred in temporary graves that were forgotten, the remains of soldiers continue to be unearthed.
So, in 2011, when French construction workers unearthed bodies buried together, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission archeologists took responsibility for removing the remains after it was realized the soldiers had likely been Canadians.
Sarah Lockyer, a forensic anthropologist who works for the History and Heritage Branch of the Department of National Defence, said the button was in excellent condition and indicated the 16th Battalion. Also, an identity disc was legible enough to make out Johnston’s name.
Both were good clues, but not proof enough for burial in a marked grave in a cemetery reserved for war dead.
Lockyer said she used army, birth and family records going back over 100 years to track down living relatives of Johnston. She then asked their permission to collect DNA samples from them to compare with samples taken from the remains for solid proof.
It’s a process she has completed many times. Even now, she has 31 unresolved cases on her desk. She also said when living relatives are contacted, the reactions vary.
“Sometimes they don’t have any idea who I am talking about,” said Lockyer. “But sometimes it will spark a renewed interest in family history.”
“And sometimes new connections with family members are established,” she said in an interview from her office in Ottawa.
In Johnston’s case, the living family had memories of the young man who left for the war and didn’t return. And so a signet ring, also found in the grave, and the identification disc were returned to them.
Also found with the remains were scraps of leather from the boots. They were interred in the final grave as per tradition.
Lt. Col. Stephen Sawyer, commander of the Canadian Scottish, explained because Johnston was born and raised in Manitoba and had homesteaded near Fairford, he was likely originally part of the Cameron Highlanders, a unit raised in Winnipeg.
The Camerons were folded, along with three other kilted Canadian Highland regiments, into the 16th Battalion.
By the end of the war, the 16th was simply known as the Canadian Scottish. After the war, that name was formally attached to the Victoria regiment that continues today.
For Sawyer, the task of sending a small unit to act as pall bearers, perform the appropriate military funeral drill and bring back historical artifacts is all part of an ongoing Canadian Army tradition.
It marks a solemn historical event and maintains connections of living soldiers with stories they can continue.
“It lends an extra dignity to the whole event, rather than just doing it all administratively,” he said.