Remains of Manitoba WW I soldiers found in France

Authorities have identified the remains of three First World War soldiers found in France as soldiers who lived in Manitoba.

The bodies of Pte. William Del Donegan, Pte. Henry Edmonds Priddle and Sgt. Archibald Wilson were discovered near the village of Vendin-le-Vieil, France, the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces said in a news release.

The veterans, who all enlisted in Winnipeg, died during the Battle of Hill 70 in 1917 as members of the 16th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, the news release says.

The three soldiers will be buried by their regiment later this year at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Loos British Cemetery, outside Loos-en-Gohelle, France, on Aug. 23. The ceremony is open to the public.

"A century has passed since these three soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice on a battlefield half a world away, but time has not diminished their legacy. It seems fitting that their final resting place is in the land which they helped to free," Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan said in the news release. "We will lay them to rest with the honour they and their families deserve."

The bodies, along with associated artifacts from the First World War, were discovered during a munitions clearing process near Vendin-le-Vieil in September 2010, May 2011 and August 2011. They were identified as Donegan, Priddle and Wilson, respectively.

'Total stranger' linking family

The discovery of Donegan's remains has forged new connections in his extended family.

John Hays, Donegan's great-great-nephew living in Seattle, Wash., said a long-lost relative will be attending the belated military burial after reaching out. 

"Don't have any idea if we're going to make any kind of lasting contact, but still good to have the information," Hays said.

Donegan was a "total stranger" to Hays before a Canadian government official contacted him two years ago and asked for a DNA swab.

"I'm a private investigator by profession and DNA is incredible in terms of resolving issues," said the 73-year-old. "This is one of the happier sort of issues to resolve."

Hays has since spoken with many remote family members about the discovery, which garnered a range of reactions. Some people didn't want to be bothered.

"I got the impression he thought I was a Nigerian prince … trying to scam him," Hays said of one relative.

But for himself, it's been a "duty and honour" to assist the Canadian government.

"I've been quite pleased to be part of the process, reconnecting the deceased soldier with his roots," Hays said.

The casualty identification review board confirmed their identities through historical, genealogical, anthropological, archeological and DNA analysis.

Sarah Lockyer, a casualty identification co-ordinator with the federal government, said many Canadian soldiers were left in unmarked graves after burials on battlefields that weren't intended to serve as their permanent resting places.

"Typically what happened in the field, there would be temporary burials that happened all the time," she said.

When Canadian soldiers' remains are found, part of Lockyer's job is to examine their bodies and glean whatever she can to help in identification.

"For my purposes, as a forensic anthropologist, I look at what their skeleton tells me as to who they were, what kind of person they were," she said.

"I do know things like age and height, but as to who they were as an individual, as a person, that, unfortunately, I don't have much information."

Using military records of soldiers who served in the area at the time, and whose bodies weren't recovered, she can rule out potential candidates based on their height and age at time of death, she said.

The goal is to whittle the list down to 10 candidates before beginning genealogical analysis, she said. In some cases, the soldiers carry hints about their lives with them.

"For Donegan, for example, he was found with some 16th Battalion buttons but also a cat badge from 179th Battalion, which at first glance led us to believe that he had originally transferred from the 179th into the 16th," Lockyer said, so the team looked at military records of the soldiers who had served in both.

"Based on that list and then looking at the age and height, we had a list of potential candidates of about five individuals."

The difficulty of the genealogical analysis also varies, Lockyer said.

"In certain cases it can be relatively easy," she said. "I do know that for Sgt. Wilson, the DNA donor was his niece. But for some others, it can happen where they're five or six generations removed so that becomes a bit more difficult."

Biographies of the soldiers are available on the Canadian Armed Forces history pages of the Government of Canada website.

• Pte. William Del Donegan was born on March 27, 1897, in Ottawa. In his youth, his family moved to Winnipeg. He was a railway clerk before he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on Feb. 21, 1916, at age 18. He died on Aug. 16, 1917, in the Battle of Hill 70. He was 20.
• Pte. Henry Edmonds Priddle was born on May 17, 1884, in Norwich, Ont. In 1910 he married Florence Hazen and the couple settled in Winnipeg. He worked as a broommaker before enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on April 1, 1916, at age 31. He died on Aug. 16, 1917, age 33, at the Battle of Hill 70.
• Sgt. Archibald Wilson was born on Feb. 12, 1892, in Campsie, Scotland. One of 11 children, he came to Canada with three brothers and two sisters in June 1910. He planned to eventually farm in Manitoba, but worked as a barber before enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on Dec. 18, 1914, at age 22. He joined the 16th Battalion in 1915 and participated in several battles. He was promoted to sergeant in June 1917 and died on Aug. 16, 1917, age 25, during the Battle of Hill 70. Two of his brothers, John and Gavin, also enlisted, and were killed in Belgium and France, respectively.

The Battle of Hill 70 took place four months after Vimy Ridge. About 100,000 Canadian soldiers fought there, and approximately 2,100 Canadian soldiers died.

It was the first time Canadian forces in the First World War were led by a Canadian commander.

3 First World War soldiers identified as Canadians

7 years ago

Duration 2:22

All three soldiers were from Manitoba and enlisted in Winnipeg — their remains were discovered over the course of a year in the same area near the village of of Vendin-le-Vieil, France.