A fundraising campaign is underway to raise $110,000 to locate the remains of 44 soldiers of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion, the Canadian Scottish, and give them proper burial in a new cemetery. Historians believe the soldiers are lying in a makeshift mass grave in northern France after fighting at Vimy Ridge in April 1917.
Military historian Norm Christie told the CBC the soldiers were hastily buried in a crater in the heat of battle. He has found no evidence they were relocated from the gravesite, which is known as CA-40.
Mr. Christie said, “〈The gravesite〉 was supposed to be moved to another cemetery except that, when we checked on the original documents, none of the bodies were brought in.”
In a video on the ‘Help Recover Our Vimy Heroes’ fundraising campaign website, military historian Norm Christie shows where the remains of some of the men of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion may be buried in Vimy.
Mr. Christie launched the fundraising campaign, called Help Recover Our Vimy Heroes, in June 2015. More than $20,000 has been raised to date.
You can read more about this story in the CBC report.
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