Three unknown soldiers associated with the Battle of Hill 70 will be laid to rest with military honours at Loos British Cemetery, Loos-en-Gohelle, France, at the end of June.
Two of the soldiers will be buried as Unknown Soldiers of the Great War, as confirmation that they are Canadian could not be obtained. The third soldier will be buried as an Unknown Canadian Soldier from the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles.
The remains of the three soldiers were discovered during construction projects near Lens, France, in 2011 and 2017. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was notified, and took possession of the remains and associated artefacts. The cases were subsequently investigated by the Canadian Armed Forces’ Casualty Identification Program and closed in November 2019. Maternal and paternal DNA profiles have been obtained from these sets of remains with the hope of future identification.
Days after the ceremony for the unknown soldiers, Private John Lambert will be buried by his unit, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, at New Irish Farm Cemetery in West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, in a joint ceremony with the United Kingdom. Private Lambert died at the age of 17 in August 1917 at the Battle of Langemarck. His remains were discovered in 2016, and his identification was announced by the Department of National Defence in December 2020.
Private Lambert will be buried alongside two unknown British soldiers of unknown regiments, an unknown British soldier of the Royal Inniskilling Regiment, an unknown British soldier of the Hampshire Regiment, an unknown British soldier of the Royal Fusiliers, and an unknown German soldier. Private Lambert’s family and government representatives will be in attendance.
The Canadian Armed Forces’ Casualty Identification Program works to identify unknown Canadian service members when their remains are recovered. The program also identifies service members previously buried as unknown soldiers when there is sufficient evidence to confirm the identification.
Veterans Affairs Canada works with the Casualty Identification Program to identify next of kin and supports the participation of the two closest next of kin in the burial ceremony overseas, so that they might understand more of the story and experience of their lost family member.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates the 1.7 million Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during the two world wars.
