A Locket of Hair Helps Identify Body of WW1 Soldier Almost 100 years After Death

Sidney Halliday died in the Battle of Amiens, 1918. Before he left Manitoba for the front, he and his sweetheart Lizzie Walmsley exchanged lockets with hair inside.

Attestation Papers for Sidney Halliday

Sidney was one of many soldiers from a Winnipeg regiment (the Winnipeg Grenadiers) who were killed  at the Battle of Amiens in France. He was just 22 years old. His body was never found.

But in 2006 the remains of 8 soldiers were found in a muddy field in France. 4 were identified but 4 were unknown. Luckily the  locket with Lizzie Walmsley's name engraved on the outside and containing a lock of her  hair was found. A search of the records of the missing soldiers from that Winnipeg regiment revealed that Sidney Halliday asked for $10.00 to be given to Lizzie Walmsley in the event of his death.

I was curious about what happened to Lizzie  so I did a little research. I suspect that she may be the Elizabeth Walmsley born in Manitoba in 1900 who married David Sands in 1920.

Continue reading this touching story at WW I Canadian soldier's remains identified

WWI Canadian soldiers' remains identified

After almost 100 years these WW1 Canadian soldiers' remains have been identified. The Department of National Defence released the names of four men who died during the Battle of Amiens in August 1918.

Wounded at Battle of Amiens
from Collections Canada

Their bodies were found  in 2006  in a back garden in Hallu, France, 120 kilometres north of Paris, by by 14-year-old Fabien Demeusere. Eight soldiers' bodies were uncovered but so far only 4 hav been identified. The remains of the eight soldiers will be buried next to each other near the graves of other soldiers from the 78th Battalion at a ceremony set for May 2015 at Caix cemetery in France.

• Clifford Neelands

Neelands was born in Barrie, Ontario, and moved with his family to Winnipeg. He worked as a real estate agent before joining the 78th Battalion. Lt. Neelands was one of six officers in the 78th who died in the Battle of Amiens.

• Lachlan McKinnon

McKinnon grew up in Scotland, arriving in Canada in 1913. He had worked as a butcher. After he enlisted, he was back in the U.K. by 1915. Before going to fight on the continent, he married a woman from Glasgow. Pte. McKinnon was seriously wounded in his left leg while serving as a rifleman on the Somme front in 1916.

• William Simms

Pte. William Simms of Canada's 78th Battalion died in the Battle of Amiens in France on Aug. 11, 1918. (Archives/Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum) Simms was from a large farm family in Russell, Man. Pte. Simms took part in all the major Canadian offensives of 1917. One of his brothers also died in the war.

• John Oscar Lindell

Lindell was born in Sweden in 1884, came to Canada when he was about 20 and ended up in Winnipeg. Lance Sgt. Lindell worked as a railroad foreman before he joined the 78th battalion in 1915.


Continue reading this  story at WWI Canadian soldiers' remains identified