Sgt. Richard Musgrave will now be honored with a full military burial in France with his family, following confirmation from the Ministry of National Defense this week. For the Masgrave family, who never forgot the fallen soldier, the news comes as a great consolation. Sergeant Richard Masgrave. (Ministry of Defense)
The discovery marks the last chapter of a great story characterized by courage, tragedy and, finally, closure. “I was surprised. I could not believe it,” James Masgrave Coltman, the soldier’s nephew, told CBC News from Scotland. “After all this, 100 years, and suddenly it reappears.”

One way ticket to Calgary

Richard Musgrave was born in Blackrigg, Scotland in 1884 and worked as a teamster when he came to Canada. “The man he worked for sold two horses to someone in Canada, who I think was in Calgary, and handed them over to the buyer,” Coltman said. “He only had one one-way ticket. When he arrived in Calgary, the job was done [and it was] “Hard, you are alone.” The certificates of Sergeant Richard Musgrave. (Library and Archives of Canada)
Everything Coltman knows about his ancestor came from his grandmother – Masgrave’s sister. Some details are unclear because Musgrave did not write very often at home. But the Department of Defense said it continued to work as a teamster in Calgary before enlisting in the Canadian Forces on April 30, 1915.

He was reported missing and presumed dead

After his training in England, Musgrave went to France in 1916 and graduated with the rank of soldier in sergeant the following year. Although wounded in battle in April 1917, he remained in office and was awarded the Medal of Courage in July. The following month, as a member of the 7th Infantry Battalion, he was sent to what would become known as the Battle of Hill 70 near Lens, France. The Battle of Hill 70 took place shortly after Vimy Ridge, and was a similar kind of attack, said Kent Griffiths, a retired major in the Canadian Armed Forces and curator of the Calgary Highlanders Museum and Archives at the Military Museums in Calgary. The stretchers tend to injure Canadian soldiers during the Battle of Hill 70, at a medical station near the front. (Library and Archives of Canada)
“It was the use of a rolling barrier once again, where the artillery would shoot right in front of the attacking troops, so that the enemy would stay in their trenches because the artillery was hitting them,” Griffiths said. “And the attacking troops would simply occupy the high ground.” Many soldiers were lost, Griffith said. The bodies of many soldiers killed during the war in France were never found. On August 15, 1917, the first day of the battle, Masgrave was reported missing and presumed dead. He was 32 years old. “Even though it was 100 years ago, Dick was always on our minds,” James said. There was a photo of him hanging in his grandmother’s house, he said, accompanied by a fresh poppy every year.

The biological profile

Nearly five years ago, Commonwealth War Graves Commission personnel recovered the remains and many artifacts, including a military metal ribbon and a whistle, when ammunition was cleared north of Lens. The process is common in parts of Europe, said Sarah Lockyer. She is the coordinator of the victim identification program and a forensic anthropologist with the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defense. “Especially in France and Belgium, when construction is about to begin in some locations, there are ammunition clearance teams that pass through to remove all unexploded ordnance,” he said. Historical, genealogical, anthropological, archaeological and DNA analysis will be performed to locate the remains. In May 2018, Lockyer traveled to France to analyze them. “You put everything anatomically on a table and then look at very specific areas of the body to compile the biological profile,” he said.

The primary candidate

According to Lockyer, age and height are important factors to consider, because although soldiers – including Musgrave – sometimes lied about age when enlisting, they are in their personnel files. “In total, [Musgrave’s remains were] “In very good condition,” he said. Lockyer also records the artifacts found in the wreckage – a process it said was “key to helping us determine who this person is.” Those found with Musgrave included collar badges and a BC hat badge directing the team to look at the 7th Battalion. A military medal ribbon and a whistle, meanwhile, indicated a higher rank. The military medal ribbon, left, found with the remains of Sergeant Richard Musgrave. (History and Heritage Directorate)
Eventually, there were four candidates from the 7th Battalion who fit the parameters of the discovery, Lockyer said. But there was only one who “really hit four of those charges exactly as we needed to,” and that was Musgrave. “He was very much our main candidate,” he said. Next was finding a DNA donor through genealogical research to compare with the remains. The donor was found in the UK, who gave a swab to his cheeks, Lockyer said. “Usually, about two or three months after the lab receives the DNA test kit from the donor, we get the results,” Lockier said. “In this case, they were positive. They ended up being Sergeant Musgrave.”

He was duly honored

According to Lockyer, the Department of Defense’s victim identification program exists specifically to locate the newly discovered remains of the Canadian military. “So that they can be properly honored with a full military burial performed by members of their own regiment,” Lockier said. “And to have a gravestone with their name on it, and their family to be able to attend there that day.” Musgrave is the 32nd member of the Victim Recognition Program to be recognized since its inception in 2007. Sergeant Richard Masgraves will be buried in the British Cemetery in Loos, France. (Submitted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
However, there are more than 27,000 Canadians missing from World War I, World War II and the conflict in Korea. “This work is important personally, as a forensic anthropologist, so that I can return this person’s name and face back to them,” Lockyer said. “My military colleagues tell me that for them it is very important because … if the worst happened to them today, they would know that there is someone who would still work to identify them after their death.” In the coming months, Masgrave will receive a full military burial in France in the presence of his family, Canadian soldiers and officials. Asked how important it was for his family to find out what had happened to his uncle’s great-grandfather, Coltman’s answer was immediate. “A lot,” he said. “Very.”