Remains found in France identified as Canadian soldier who died in WW1
CBC
More than 100 years after a Canadian soldier went missing on a bloody battlefield during the First World War, his remains have been identified after being found in France.
Sgt. Richard Musgrave will now be honoured with a full military burial in France with family, following confirmation from the Department of National Defence this week.
For Musgrave's family, who never forgot the fallen soldier, the news comes as a great comfort.
The discovery marks the final chapter in a long story that is marked by courage, tragedy and, finally, closure.
"I was stunned. I couldn't believe it," James Musgrave Coltman, the soldier's great-nephew, told CBC News from Scotland.
"After all this, 100 years, and suddenly it comes up again."
Richard Musgrave was born in Blackrigg, Scotland, in 1884, and worked as a teamster when he came to Canada.
"The man that he worked for sold two horses to somebody in Canada, which I think was in Calgary … and he delivered them to the buyer," Coltman said.
"He only had a one-way ticket. When he got to Calgary, the job was done [and it was] 'Tough, you're on your own.'"
Everything Coltman knows about his ancestor came from his granny — Richard's sister.
Some details are vague because Richard did not write home very often.
But the Department of National Defence said he continued working as a teamster in Calgary before enlisting in the Canadian Forces on April 30, 1915.
After training in England, Musgrave went to France in 1916 and graduated in rank from a private to a sergeant the following year.
Though wounded in battle in April 1917, he remained on duty, and was awarded the Medal of Bravery that July.
