‘We can be at peace now’

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This article was published 26/11/2021 (1428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took more than a century, but the final resting spot of a Winnipegger who died fighting in the First World War has been located.

Cpl. George Ledingham, of the Cameron Highlanders of Canada, died on Oct. 1, 1918. His grave in a Canadian war cemetery in Tilloy-lez-Cambrai, France, only identified him as an unknown soldier. Now, his headstone will bear his name and a rededication ceremony is planned.

Wayne McKay, Ledingham’s great-nephew, said the family is pleased to know where Ledingham is buried.

“My grandfather was wounded and was sent back, but his brother George died there,” said McKay.

“I knew him by a photo on my grandmother’s wall which then went to my mother and now me. I just thought, up until now, he was in a shell hole covered in mud.”

McKay, who is 84, said he doesn’t think he will make it to France for the headstone rededication, but his granddaughter hopes to be there.

“This is satisfying,” he said. “We can be at peace now and he can be at peace and we know where he is.”

Ledingham’s attestation papers say he was born on Feb. 17, 1887 and was almost 29 when he walked into a recruiting office and enlisted on Nov. 15, 1915.

Not much is known about his life before he enlisted. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, to Alexander and Barbara Ledingham; he was single and lived in the Sherman Hotel, formerly the Metropolitan Hotel, which was near the current city hall complex on Main Street; and he served in the active militia.

Ledingham also worked as a teamster, at that time meaning he was either a horse team driver or a stable hand.

He joined the 179th Battalion and left for England in October 1916, where his unit was absorbed into the 17th Reserve Battalion. Then he joined the 43rd Canadian Infantry Battalion, the Cameron Highlanders, on Nov. 13, 1916.

Ledingham, who was promoted to corporal in mid-September 1918, was one of many who fought to take Cambrai. During battle, he was shot in the head and died. After the battle ended, he was buried as an unknown corporal with the 43rd Battalion based on the rank and unit badges found on his uniform.

In 2019, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission received information from independent researchers who believed the grave was that of Ledingham based, in part, because only one of the battalion’s corporals died that day, and Ledingham was a corporal and died that day.

Lt. Col. Jon Baker, commanding officer of the Winnipeg-based Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, said it was one of the honours of his career to travel to Almonte, Ont., to give official notification to Ledingham’s family that his remains had been identified.

“Whether a casualty of our unit yesterday or 100 years ago, this is important and we need to do this,” said Baker.

“Usually we would do this as a knock on the door at a family member’s residence for the private notification, but here we worked with the family ahead of time.”

All those years ago, Baker said, someone would have knocked on the door of Ledingham’s parents to tell them the bad news.

“They would have been notified he had been killed,” he said.

“What wasn’t known then was where his remains were. Now we know.”

In a statement, Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said thousands of First World War soldiers are in unmarked graves.

“It’s important, even after all these years later, that we not forget that each of them was a person with a name and a story when they died,” said MacAulay.

“Days like today remind us of that, and I’m glad that we’re now able to provide Cpl. Ledingham with the recognition that he and all of his comrades deserved.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca