Dozens of WWI remains were found at a French construction site — including a Canadian soldier

As a jewel casket draped in a canadian river signal flag was carried toward a freshly dug tomb at a state of war cemetery in Loos-en-Gohelle, France, last Thursday, dozens sat in silence under the blazing sun to witness a burial ceremony for a soldier killed more than a century ago.

The interment was for Pte. Albert Henry Detmold, a farmer from Manitoba who was killed on Aug. 15, 1917, the first day of the Battle of Hill 70.

His remains were only identified last year.

"To think that they’ve connected the dots.… through DNA, anthropology, history. It's almost surreal," said Liana Walters, Detmold’s great-niece. "Like a movie where you see the plot unfold and all the steps involved in it."

Walters never knew about her relative or his military service until a few months ago.

Detmold’s remains were among more than 100 found by crews during the construction of a new hospital in the city of Lens, in northern France.

The site marks where the Canadian Corps. Fought under a Canadian commander. While Canada successfully seized the higher ground, the Battle of Hill 70 was costly: Over a 10-day period, Canada suffered more than 9,000 casualties.

Fallen Canadian WWI soldier gets proper burial, more than 100 years later

The hospital construction taking place on top of the former battlefield unearthed dozens of remains, which prompted a multinational effort to identify them using historical artifacts and records, alongside modern DNA testing.

Detmold’s remains were found near a trench with a trove of items that provided anthropologists with clues, which kicked off what would become a five-year investigation.

"We knew that he was buried at the time, but he was forgotten because of the place," said Loreleï Margely-Lardeyret, an anthropologist with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's recovery unit. "His body was lying on his back. He had his hands joined."

A pickaxe was underneath him. He was wearing boots and several uniform buttons were recovered, including one embossed with the word "Canada."

The key piece of evidence, however, was a maple-leaf-shaped cap badge identifying him as a member of the 107th Battalion. The unit was a pioneer battalion tasked with extending communication trenches across no man’s land, often under heavy fire.

Margely-Lardeyret and her team in France assessed the artifacts and conducted initial historical research before passing the file to the Casualty Identification Program in Ottawa. That team did further research, analyzing the bones to determine the soldier's likely height and age.

Eventually, researchers narrowed down a list of possibilities. The next step was to confirm a match through DNA testing, a challenging process that requires experts to trace family ties back through multiple generations.

After researchers sifted through public records, including obituaries, Walters's daughter received an email from the Canadian government asking to discuss a relative from the First World War. Walters said her daughter initially worried it was a scam, but the family followed up, and the process snowballed.

One of Walters's cousins provided the DNA sample that confirmed the match.

While Walters grew up knowing nothing of her great-uncle Albert, she has spent the last several months learning his life story.

He was born into a British family in Germany, and later moved to England. At 18, he immigrated to Manitoba to farm on a homestead. He was 33 years old when he was killed.

Though raised in a Jewish family, Detmold listed his religion as Presbyterian when he enlisted, likely in an effort to avoid discrimination.

Two military chaplains presided over the recent burial service in northern France, including a rabbi who asked several local Jewish men to attend in order for there to be enough to recite memorial prayers.

Walters wept as she watched the interment and struggled to find words after being presented with the Canadian flag that had covered the casket.

A short time later, a freshly engraved headstone was erected alongside 3,000 others at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

Canada's Casualty Identification Program, founded in 2007, has identified the remains of 37 Canadians and there are currently 45 active investigations underway. 

Margely-Lardeyret said most of the remains uncovered at the hospital site belonged to British soldiers, but she estimates about a dozen are Canadian.

"There's a huge sense of duty and accomplishment, because after a century they have been discovered," she said, adding that a positive identification is a bonus, but not the most vital part of the mission.

When soldiers can't be identified, they are still honoured with a ceremony and a headstone that reads "Known unto God."

"What matters is [the soldier] needs to have a decent burial to be commemorated, and now that's the case for Private Detmold," Margely-Lardeyret said.

Foreign Correspondent

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