Remains of Canadian First World War soldiers identified, to be buried in France By: Alexandra Paul Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 22, 2018

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This article was published 21/05/2018 (2313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three Canadian soldiers from Manitoba who died in France during the First World War will be buried with full military honours not far from where they fell in battle, the Department of National Defence says.

Pte. William Donegan, Pte. Henry Priddle and Sgt. Archibald Wilson were killed during the Battle of Hill 70, near the French town of Vendin-le-Vieil, the Canadian military said in an announcement Tuesday.

The three members of the 16th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, fell the same day (Aug. 16, 1917), early in the pitched and protracted battle for the strategic hill that lasted until Aug. 25, 1917.

Hill 70 was the first major action fought by the Canadian Corps under a Canadian commander in the First World War, Ottawa said. Some 2,100 Canadian soldiers died near Vendin-le-Vieil — and 1,300 of them had no known grave. Allies held the hill until the end of the war.

Crews clearing wartime munitions found human remains, along with First World War artifacts, over a period of a year from September 2010 to August, 2011. The remains were later identified as the three Canadian soldiers.

Donegan, 20, and Priddle, 33, lived in Winnipeg when they enlisted.

Wilson, 25, fought in several battles in 1916 and the first part of 1917. He had two brothers, John and Gavin, who also enlisted — and they were also killed, in France and Belgium, respectively.

The discovery marks the second time a cluster of unknown First World War soldiers from Winnipeg and area have been found and identified. In 2015, the remains of eight members of the 78th Battalion, known as the Winnipeg Grenadiers, were buried in France with military honours — the largest group of previously unknown Canadian soldiers since the Armed Forces casualty identification program started in 2006.

As with that ceremony, Ottawa notified members of the three families, who are expected to attend the burial Aug. 23 at Loos British Cemetery, run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and located outside Loos-en-Gohelle, France.

In a statement Tuesday, Defence Minister Harjit Singh said: “As Canada marks this year the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, we pay tribute to Private Donegan, Private Priddle and Sergeant Wilson. They are among the 61,000 brave Canadians who gave their lives during the First World War so that all of us might life in peace and security. While there is no way to sufficiently thank them for their sacrifice, we forever hold them in our memories.”

According to National Defence, Donegan was born March 27, 1897, in Ottawa. In his youth, his family moved to Winnipeg, where he became a railway clerk. He enlisted Feb. 21, 1916, at the age of 18, and was shipped to France in April 1917.

Priddle was born May 17, 1884, in Norwich, Ont. He married Florence Hazen in 1910, and the couple settled in Winnipeg, where he worked as broom-maker. He enlisted April 1, 1916, and shipped out a year later to France.

Wilson was born Feb. 12, 1892, in Campsie, Scotland. One of 11 children, he came to Canada with three brothers and two sisters in June 1910. He had planned to farm in Manitoba but was working as a barber before he enlisted on Dec. 18, 1914. He joined the 16th Battalion the following year.

Vendin-le-Vieil is located roughly 200 kilometres north of Paris. The nearby site of the Battle of Hill 70 — so strategic a century ago — is now a small exit off a highway, across the street from a hospital and next to a recreational complex.

When the remains were unearthed, French officials notified the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which took them to Beaurains, France, for safekeeping.

The Casualty Identification Review Board, which includes representatives from the Canadian Forces forensic response team and the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa, used DNA analysis, historical, genealogical, anthropological and archeological means to identify the remains.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca