The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces have confirmed that the grave of a previously unknown soldier is that of Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham, a Canadian soldier of the First World War.
Cpl Cunningham was buried as an unknown soldier in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium in 1920.
Source: Provided to Department of National Defence by Reid and Debbie Cunningham, relatives of Cpl Cunningham.
His identity was confirmed through historical research conducted using numerous archival sources that included war diaries, service records, casualty registers, and grave exhumation and concentration reports.
William Cunningham was born near Hayfield, Manitoba on December 30, 1895, the second son of Hugh James Cunningham and Syllindia Isabel Cunningham (née Harper). He worked as a clerk in Brandon, Manitoba, and served in the 99th Manitoba Rangers militia unit before enlisting with the 181st Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).
In April 1917, Lance Corporal Cunningham arrived in England to train with the 18th Reserve Battalion, CEF. In August 1917, he was taken on strength by the 44th Canadian Infantry Battalion and joined his unit in France. In September, Cunningham was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
That fall, during the Third Battle of Ypres, also referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele, the Canadian Corps’ main objective was to capture the village of Passchendaele, Belgium. In an assault that began on the morning of October 26, 1917, the 10th Infantry Brigade of the 4th Canadian Division (of which the 44th Battalion was a part) attacked along the eastern ridge on which ran the Zonnebeke-Passchendaele Road.
In just three days of fighting, 45 men of the 44th Battalion were killed. Of those, 29 were declared missing with no known grave.
According to his files, Cpl Cunningham was killed in action on October 27, 1917 during intense shelling while fighting at a forward outpost past the Canadians’ front lines. For unknown reasons, his remains were not identified.
He was 21 years old.
Headstone
A headstone rededication ceremony will take place at the earliest opportunity at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Tyne Cot Cemetery.
Cpl Cunningham is commemorated on Panel 28 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, which honours the soldiers killed in the Ypres Salient in Belgium during WWI who have no known grave.
He is also commemorated on his family headstone, located in the Brandon Municipal Cemetery in Brandon, Manitoba. The epitaph reads, “He that giveth his life shall find it.” An image of his headstone in that cemetery can be found on Findagrave.
Since it was founded in 2007, the Canadian Armed Forces’ Casualty Identification Program has identified the remains of 36 Canadians. In 2019, the Program officially took on the additional responsibility of identifying the graves of Canadian service members buried as unknowns, and has since identified 12. There are currently 40 active investigations involving remains, and 38 involving graves.
