Body of WWII Canadian soldier found

[Kyt]

TheStar.com | World | Body of WWII Canadian soldier found in France

OTTAWA–Sixty-four years after he died in a bloody battle with German forces in northern France, a Canadian soldier's body has been found, identified and is being prepared for a military funeral.

The young private died in the battle of the Falaise gap in August 1944, two months after Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and started making their way south, suffering heavy losses.

His body was discovered in a quarry in Haut Mesnil, 18 kilometres north of Falaise, in March 2005, said an official with National Defence. The department will not release the soldier's name until family members are consulted.

On August 14, 1944, the quarry at Haut Mesnil, occupied by Canadian troops, was mistakenly targeted by RAF bombers. They mistook it for a German position.

“We could see the pilots at the controls, bomb doors opening and the bombs dropping. Talk about fear! We were helpless,” wrote Charles Martin of the Toronto-based Queen’s Own Rifles.

“Other British planes, who seemed to know better, were swarming their own bombers, shooting and stunting, trying to warn them away.”

The Canadian soldiers killed were from the Fourth Canadian Infantry Brigade, made up of battalions raised in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Windsor.

Haut Mesnil residents who discovered the body also found a badge identifying the soldier as a Canadian. Since then, the department has been working to attach a name to him.

"Sometimes it can go very quickly, and sometimes it can take a long time," said Laurel Clegg, a casualty identification researcher with National Defence.

The work is important to veterans, who say the retrieval and identification of bodies brings closure to spouses, kids and grandchildren.

"As sad as it may be, it does bring closure to the death of a person," said Bob Butt, spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion.

"There's a proper grave with a proper headstone. He's not just another name that's posted somewhere."

There are more than 27,000 Canadian soldiers with unknown graves around the world, according to National Defence. Discovering bodies is uncommon, but not unheard of.

In 2003, workers digging a trench for a gas pipeline near Vimy Ridge found the remains of two young soldiers from the First World War. DNA taken from the tooth of one of the men allowed researchers to identify him as Pte. Herbert Peterson of Berry Creek, Alta.

It took four years to identify Peterson's remains. Researchers at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay worked from a list of missing soldiers.

They narrowed the list to men who matched the height and age of the remains. Eventually, they matched the tooth DNA with that of a nephew still living in Alberta.

The soldier found near Falaise is to be interred in a military ceremony at the Canadian War Cemetery in Bretteville-sur-Laize, France. The date has not been made public.

He participated in one of the turning points in the Second World War, when Allied forces worked to surround the German 7th Army and Fifth Panzer Army.

Canadian and Polish troops came from the north while American troops came from the south and west. The tightening circle soon forced the Germans into full retreat.

[Antipodean Andy]

Amazing stuff and some closure at last for at least one family.