Decades after death, Calgary First World War soldier receives military send off

CALGARY – Seventy years after his death, a Calgary soldier who was wounded in the First World War was honoured Sunday with a military graveside ceremony. 

Cpl. Gawen Foster, who was born in England, served with the 50th (Calgary) Canadian Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force and was wounded at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. 

Foster was shot through the left arm resulting in a compound fracture of both the ulna and the radius. He spent the remainder of his time in the army in hospitals at Boulogne, Bramshott, Leeds and Basingstoke before returning to Calgary in 1918. 

His brother Ralph also joined the 50th Battalion, but he was serving with the 1st Canadian Tunneling Company. He died of Trench Nephritis in 1917. 

Foster returned to Canada and left the military later moving to Portland, Ore. 

He died in 1955, but his ashes were not claimed and remained in an eight-storey mausoleum at the Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial Funeral Home. 

Foster’s remains are now back in Calgary and were interred in August. 

“We formally welcome Cpl. Gawen Foster home with honour and dignity,” said Capt. Derwyn Costinak, padre of the Kings Own Calgary Regiment. 

“This is amazing story of one of our own having been stored in a mausoleum since 1955 and unclaimed by anyone, and now he is brought home to rest with others from his unit.”

The Portland mausoleum has been cleaning up its warehouse and an American group attempting to arrange proper burials for veterans stored there reached out to a Canadian First World War researcher who contacted the Military Museums of Calgary. 

With support from the Calgary regiment, arrangements were made and Foster’s remains were returned to Calgary. 

Over 100 people attended the event in the Field of Honour at Calgary’s Queen’s Park cemetery with more than 80 military personnel in full uniform including a guard in Foster’s honour.

A lone bugler played “Last Post” — a British and Commonwealth bugle call used at military funerals and at ceremonies commemorating those who have died in war.

A faded black and white picture of Foster in uniform along with two of his medals were placed on a table. Distant relatives were located in Alaska but didn’t attend the service.

Costinak said this is a tragic story.

“You have someone who’s served and life kind of goes and they are forgotten. That’s the part that’s the worst I think,” he said.

“Cpl. Foster’s situation just seemed that much more tragic. No one to claim him, languishing in the mausoleum since 1955.”

The commanding officer of the King’s Own Calgary Regiment says Foster is now where he belongs.

“Though far from the battlefields of Europe and far from the land whose uniform he proudly wore, his connection to this regiment and to the ideals he fought for never faded,” said Lt.-Col. John Fisher.

“It is only fitting then that nearly 70 years after his death we gather to welcome him home.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2025.