Canadian First World War soldier’s remains identified 100 years after death.
The Defence Department said in a news release Friday that Sgt. Harold Wilfred Shaughnessy was found near the village of Vendin-le-Vieil — at the site where the battle for Hill 70 took place in August 1917.
He was identified using historical records, an identifying disc and forensics.
Born in 1884 in St. Stephen, N.B., Shaughnessy left his job as a stenographer and joined an infantry battalion, becoming part of the Canadian expeditionary force when he was 31 and dying in the battle at the age of 33.
The department has notified members of Shaughnessy’s family, and says he will be buried in their presence at Loos British Cemetery outside Loos-en-Gohelle, France, later this year.
His remains were discovered on June 6 last year during a munitions clearing process in advance of a construction project near the village of Vendin-le-Vieil.
Approximately 2,100 Canadians gave their lives in the battle for Hill 70, and more than 1,300 of them have no known grave.
