Unmarked Grave Program researcher looking for relatives of veteran buried in Swift Current
A volunteer researcher for the Last Post Fund’s Unmarked Grave Program is trying to find the relatives of a Second World War veteran before the unveiling of a permanent headstone at his grave in Swift Current’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery veterans plot.
Retired Major Brad Hrycyna is also looking for information about five individuals buried in the veterans plot to confirm their service and eligibility for a permanent military grave marker.
He has been carrying out detailed research this past winter on the unmarked graves in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Unmarked graves have a temporary marker or no marker at all.
“I found 22 temporary markers in and outside of the veterans plot and I started to work on those,” he said.
Three of them date back 100 years or more. These temporary markers are white wooden crosses with an attached copper plate that contains basic information about the person buried there.
“My task is to confirm that the person buried beneath the temporary markers are indeed veterans of the Canadian or Allied nations military and verify their service,” he explained.
He already gathered enough information to determine that 12 are veterans who qualify for permanent granite headstones with their proper names and information engraved. One has already been formally approved by the Last Post Fund for a permanent marker and 11 are pending approval.
The formal approval was granted for Rifleman Denis Celestin Denniel and Hrycyna is hoping to find his relatives before the headstone is placed at the grave, because he would like family members to be present at the ceremony later this spring. There is sufficient information about Denniel on the temporary marker to make it possible to verify his military service, even though his last name is spelled incorrectly as Deniels.
Rifleman Denniel was born on May 5, 1917 in Val Marie and he enrolled for service in the Second World War on June 27, 1940. He was a member of the Regina Rifle Regiment and on June 6, 1944 he participated in the D-day landing on Juno Beach, where he was wounded.
He recovered from his wounds and served the remainder of the war in the Provost Corps as a military policeman. He continued to serve in the Army until Jan. 28, 1954. Denniel died in Swift Current on Jan. 27, 1968.
Hrycyna found an obituary for Denniel in the provincial archives, but the details are so blurred on the microfilm that he could not read the names of relatives, which is the reason he is resorting to this public appeal in the hope of finding family members.
Hrycyna noted that it can take up to a
year before a submission for a permanent marker is processed and approved, but the information for Denniel caught the attention of researchers at the Last Post
Fund headquarters.
“Once it’s confirmed by the researchers at the headquarters for the Last Post Fund, then it’s probably another year before a headstone will come, but because this is the 80th anniversary of D-day coming up on the 6th of June we got a special dispensation,” he said. “They looked at this one right away and it looks like we will have the permanent headstone come this spring. I’m hoping it’ll be here in May and we’ll be able to mark his new headstone and the 80th anniversary of D-day at the same time.”
Hrycyna will continue to work on the remaining 10 temporary markers in an attempt to find sufficient information that will allow a submission to the Last Post Fund. Five of these are from Allied countries. He has not been able to get confirmation of their service, but his work on them is ongoing.
“One served with the Belgian Army in the First World War and some others served with British forces,” he said. “So I have to have confirmation from their governments that they actually served and that’s very hard to do, particularly the British, because during the Second
World War a lot of their First World War and South African records were destroyed when London was bombed. So I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get a permanent stone for them.”
Another challenge is that he has been unable to find information for the other five to prove that they are veterans of Canada or of an Allied nation. He is therefore hoping that this public appeal and the sharing of their details might attract the attention of any relatives or someone who knew those families.
The dates and ages of some of them indicate they might have served in either the South African War or the First World War. The five names on the temporary markers are: Brown, Robert J. (born 1869 and died Sept. 20, 1924); Hobert, Oliver Emanuel (born Sept. 28, 1879 and died March 18, 1913); Johnson, Thomas C. (born 1886 and died Feb. 2, 1929); Webb, Arthur Leason (born 1900 and died Sept. 20 1924); Wilson, Thomas Rowe (born May 25, 1877 and died March 28, 1961).
There are 350 veterans and families buried in the veterans plot in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Volunteer researchers previously carried out research on temporary markers in the cemetery that resulted in the installation of permanent headstones for those confirmed as veterans. A few have already been denied by a previous researcher.
Hrycyna said the biggest challenge during the research process is to obtain accurate information. The copper plates on some temporary markers do not even contain basic information and in some instances the details are inaccurate. One marker only has a name, which he discovered was spelled wrong.
“I was able to find out when he died through my research,” he said. “I found an obituary and get other details, like when he was born and who he served with, and from there everything came together.”
Another challenge is to locate an unknown grave. He will look for blank spots between headstones and then verify if anyone is buried there, and whether or not the person was a veteran.
“You can go through a lot of research to find out if there was an unmarked grave,” he said. “So it’s just elbow grease and the more information that I can find on the
marker or for any of those resources, the easier my job is to prove that they are in fact veterans.”
Hrycyna is committed to remembering and honouring the service of veterans. He resides in Regina, where he is actively involved with different organizations. He has been the president of the Royal United Services Institute of Regina since 2014. Its aim is to honour the Canadian Armed Forces and its members past and present. He serves on the board of the Last Post Fund, the board of governors or the Corps of Commissionaires South Saskatchewan and the board of the Saskatchewan War Memorial Committee. His efforts to commemorate and support veterans were recognized when he received the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers in 2021 and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.
He is an avid amateur military historian and participated in several battlefield tours. He was born in North Battleford, but grew up in Swift Current. He joined the Canadian military only a few days after writing his final exam at Swift Current Comprehensive High School in June 1975. He served in leadership roles during a successful military career, including as commanding officer of the Saskatchewan Dragoons. He retired from the military in April 2012 and served as an aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant Government of Saskatchewan from 2012 to 2019.
He has been a volunteer with the Last Post Fund since 2012. The organization’s mission is to ensure that no veteran is denied a dignified funeral and burial, as well as a military gravestone due to insufficient funds at the time of death. Its activities include the Unmarked Grave Program to provide a permanent military marker for eligible veterans. Its work is supported financially by Veterans Affairs Canada and private donations.