Soldiers from the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry carry First World War soldier, Pte. Alexander Johnston to his burial in France. Sgt. William MacDougall, a piper from the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, played during the ceremony.
On Sept. 29, 1918, a young Presbyterian soldier died on a battlefield in Northern France. Almost 90 years later in July 2008 his skeletal remains were discovered by a construction crew surveying for a new factory. The only clue to his identity were small maple leaf – shaped collar tags found with his body, which identified him as serving with the 78th battalion out of Winnipeg.
With the help of professional and volunteer genealogists across Canada and some forensic anthropology, the soldier was eventually identified as Pte. Alexander Johnston of Hamilton, Ont., and he was officially laid to rest in a full military ceremony in France on Oct. 25, 2011.
IDENTIFYING PTE. JOHNSTON
Laurel Clegg, casualty investigator with the Department of National Defence, began the search with historical research into the 78th battalion when it was in Sailly – lez – Cambrai, France, where Pte. Johnston’s body was found. She was able to order the personnel records for soldiers who died and whose bodies were not recovered during the Battle of Canal – du – Nord. Using the physical description in the military records and comparing it to the physical profile garnered from forensic anthropology on the soldier’s remains, Clegg was able to narrow the possibility identities to two soldiers.
“It just wasn’t clear, so we do DNA,” Clegg says. “It’s like you are looking for the other side of a zipper.”
Once Clegg was able to get a sample of DNA from the unknown soldier, the challenge was to find a living member of the soldier’s family who was a maternal descendent.
“Mitochondrial DNA is carried in cells largely unchanged from the mother,” Clegg explains. “It’s not unique to you—it’s a pattern in your family.”
Genealogist Janet Roy of Thunder Bay, Ont., took up the challenge of tracing the family tree of the two soldiers. She was able to identify a potential donor in Pte. Johnston’s grand – nephew, Don Gregory, through the obituaries of Don’s grandmother and then his mother.
“As I look back over this process, I am so aware of God’s hand on the whole process,” Roy says. “Each morning I thank Him for the amazing job He has given me and for His help. I know that without His favour I would not find the donors I seek.”
Roy put out a call to St. Andrew’s United Church in Hamilton, Ont., where Don’s mother’s funeral was held. That same day Roy got an answer back with contact information for Don, who volunteered more information on his family and after further research a DNA sample.
It was a match and the soldier was identified as Pte. Johnston.
LAID TO REST AT LAST
It was a rainy day on Oct. 25, 2011 when Johnston was finally laid to rest in Le Cantimpré Canadian Cemetery in Sailly – lez – Cambrai, less than one kilometre from where his remains were found in Raillencourt – Sainte – Olle.
“There was a wonderful feeling of completion and synchronicity that Pte. Johnston was able to have his final resting place so close to the spot he was found,” says Sgt. William MacDougall, a piper from the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, and member at St. Andrew’s, Ottawa, who piped at the cermony. He adds that other soldiers from the 78th Battalion are also buried there.
Don Gregory’s daughter, Cpl. Ann Gregory, a 26 – year reservist herself, happens to specialize in playing the Last Post with the Governor – General’s Foot Guards. She regularly plays the trumpet at funerals of veterans and was called on to play the Last Post for the burial of her own long – lost relative.
“It was important to do well to represent both the military and my family,” she says. “I play it more emotionally, not mechanically. To me, it’s about respecting the moment and playing to honour the person.”
Don, who served in the Canadian Air Force himself, was impressed with the effort and expense that the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada expend to ensure that soldiers are identified and properly buried.
“It was full military honours. There were 35 soldiers as an honour guard,” he adds. “It was very obvious to my family and myself that they took this very seriously.”
Roy was able to track down Pte. Johnston’s relatives in Scotland, Willie Johnston and his sister Jean Strachan, who were also able to attend the funeral.
“The minister wanted all the family to participate,” Ann Gregory says.
She played Amazing Grace, her brother, David read a scripture passage in French and her father gave a tribute to Pte. Johnston.
Charles Deogratias, a Presbyterian chaplain with the Department of National Defence, says the funeral service was a profound experience.
“The church was packed with French people in solidarity with Canadians,” Deogratias says. “It was a community event. They treat Canadians with incredible dignity.”
MacDougall also experienced a great deal of warmth from the French hosts.
“Quite a few locals came up to me to say how thankful they are. It was the Canadian corps who came through there in the last 100 days of the war so all those towns were liberated by Canadians,” MacDougall says. “There still seems to be a sense of gratitude in that part of France.”
A SOLDIER’S LIFE
Born in Coatbridge, Scotland in 1885, Johnston worked as a boilermaker before coming to Canada with his family at age 26. He settled on McAnulty Boulevard in Hamilton, Ont., where he worked in the bridge works and likely attended Laidlaw Presbyterian Church, which later became Laidlaw Memorial United Church.
Johnston was called up by the Military Service Act of 1917 and went into service in January 1918 at age 32. On Sept. 4, 1918 he began fighting with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France.
His “Particulars of Recruit” list Pte. Johnston as 5 foot 9, with a fair complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.
Don Gregory actually has some of Pte. Johnston’s letters to his sister, Jessie sent in the late summer of 1918 before he was sent to the front lines.
“It said he had arrived in France and was at some kind of replacement depot where regiments were sent forward in drafts,” Gregory says. “There was not much he could say because of censorship, but he said he’s going to be alright and to look out for a £10 postal draft to put into his account.”
Pte. Johnston survived only three weeks on the front lines, but he fought in three major battles in 15 days during the Hundred Days Offensive, which lead to the end of the war.
“He fought in key, major battles,” Clegg says. “It was fierce fighting—some of the most fierce for Canada. It was a pretty tough three weeks.”
The Gregory family was able to learn more about how their relative fought and died thanks to a personal tour of the battlefields of Northern France by Veteran Affairs’ director of history and heritage Dr. Steven Harris the day before Pte. Johnston’s burial.
“I gave the family information and the DNA sample, but it was still a little abstract because he died 15 years before I was born,” Don Gregory says, adding that the tour made the whole experience much more personal.
“He had to traverse this piece of ground and then he was killed here,” Gregory says.
He says the ground is flat and open with only the odd small rise.
“There was no cover and they were moving so quickly, they were outpacing themselves,” Clegg says. “They were almost running from Canal du Nord to Cambrai and Johnston died just before they reached Cambrai.”
ASTRONOMICAL ODDS
Clegg says the case is unusual in how quickly everything came together from when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission notified her of the discovery of the body in February 2009 to having the burial in October 2011.
“Everything fell into place,” Clegg says. “Every time it happens, we’re very excited. There are a lot of cases where there just isn’t enough information that we need.”
In one of many “lucky breaks” in this case, Don is the only living relative of Johnston’s who carries the mitochondrial DNA necessary to make a positive identification. His grandmother Rebecca Cook was Johnston’s sister and passed the same unique profile to her daughter, Ruby Gregory, and eventually to her only child, Don. Don’s children Ann and David do not have the same profile because it comes from the maternal line.
“The odds were astronomical against it happening, but every single thing came together to end with this ceremony,” Don says. “I can still hardly believe it myself. Somebody up there was organizing it.”
In a twist of family history, Don inherited a lot of family documents including the Johnston family Bible and even Pte. Johnston’s death certificate, so he was able to help Roy with her investigation.
In meeting with his Scottish relations, the family was even able to find an old photo of a soldier and identify it as Pte. Johnston based on the same collar tags that started the search.
“I could see the collar badges which the Canadians wore but the British didn’t,” Gregory says. They scanned the photo and sent it to Clegg, who was able to match it to the photo printed with Pte. Johnston’s obituary in the Hamilton Spectator in 1918.
“There were a lot of coincidences to make this happen. It was almost as though he was overseeing it and laying things out,” Ann Gregory says. “It’s nice to know even though it took a long time for his body to be found that he is at peace.”
