It was shortly after noon a month ago on a typically hot and sunny day in southern California when Karole Sutherland received an email that would forever rewrite family history.
It was a message from Don Chalack, a dairy farmer from Central Alberta, that her late grandfather – Edgar Medley, a First World War Canadian Army lance corporal, would finally be commemorated and honoured on his acreage -- land once owned by the soldier in the early years of the 20th century.
“I was just dumbfounded. I phoned Don within the next 10 seconds, and sent my brother an email,” said Sutherland, a 61-year-old Vancouver native who spends many months of the year vacationing in Palm Desert, Calif. “It is remarkable to think so many people have had a part in all of this, none of them we knew. It's an amazing story, one that in many ways defines us as Canadians.”
Lance-Cpl. Medley is one of three forgotten First World War Canadian servicemen receiving special commemoration in 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War. The trio of veterans all died as a result of wounds sustained from their military service to the country. Last month they received long overdue military headstones from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), an organization formed by Royal Charter with the task of marking and maintaining the graves of Commonwealth military personnel who died during the two world wars.
Joining Medley with a special commemoration this year is Pte. John Lloyd, a native of Wales who fought for Canada and was wounded at the Battle of the Somme. He later died at Lovett, Alta. on Nov. 10, 1918 and was forgotten for decades, until overseas descendants initiated a probe six years ago and discovered he was buried in the cemetery of the former coal mining community in Alberta's historic Coal Branch.
“I think it is great the headstone for Private John Lloyd is finally in place,” said Bill Taylor, a seasonal resident at Lovett, who prepared the cemetery site for Lloyd's Oct. 18 commemoration. “Heroes should be remembered. We are free because people like John gave whatever it took to win the war and protect their country.”
The third veteran is Pte. Harold Cameron, another coal miner from Dominion, an unincorporated community on Cape Breton Island, N.S. Cameron died on June 6, 1916 and is buried at the Sydney Holy Cross Cemetery where he's finally honoured with a military marker for this year's Remembrance Day.
“We have to depend on the public who have an interest on what is going on for the 100th celebrations and remembrance ceremonies for the First World War,” said Greg Lacroix, technical services officer for the CWGC, noting the persistent efforts of volunteers who made the commemoration of the three forgotten soldiers finally possible. “It is through the dedication of some people and others throughout the country who do this and bring these things to light.”
Sutherland received notice of her grandfather's commemoration on Oct. 12, with the unveiling of the headstone set for Oct. 16 at the Chalack farm, located 20 kilometres southeast of Innisfail. As she was in California, it was up to her older brother Robert Marriott, a retired corporate lawyer in Vancouver, to witness the amending of an oversight of a family and national war hero whose heroic military service to his country was overlooked for almost 100 years.
“It was unbelievable. I really didn't know my grandfather. He passed away 26 years before I was born,” said Marriott, whose late mother Katherine tried in vain for years to have the Alberta government designate his grandfather's grave at the Chalack farm a protected burial site. “Her concern was that it would be plowed over at some point. She had written letters to Edmonton, but to no avail.”
Medley came from wealthy English family roots that led to a privileged education at Wadham College of the University of Oxford. But the idea of a British high society lifestyle was ultimately unappealing for Medley, and in 1903 he opted to take a Canadian grant to start a horse ranch near the pioneer town of Innisfail, in what was then known as the District of Alberta, a part of the vast and sparsely populated North West Territories. That same year he met Maude Louise Keene and they were married two years later in Banff. The couple, who later had two daughters – Katherine and Eileen -- set up a draft and saddle horse operation on a 1,000-acre piece of land where Chalack's farm is now located.
When the First World War came, Medley volunteered in 1916 to serve his new country. On July 27, 1917 Medley, a member of the 31st Battalion, suffered a severe shrapnel wound in the back from an explosion while in combat at Vimy Ridge.
“The doctor says it is a very good job the little piece of shrapnel isn't inside me, as it would be a very ticklish operation – embedded in the kidneys and as the bomb fell three or four inches from my body as I was lying down. He says it is an extraordinary thing it isn't in there,” wrote the wounded solder to his family the following month from his hospital bed in England. “As it is the concussion so close caused enough trouble inside and started the blood from most of my internal organs.”
Medley's wounds earned him a military discharge on March 15, 1918. He returned to Innisfail. However, his wounds opened up again in May while he was trying to put out a fire on his ranch. He died on May 27, 1918 at the age of 39. Medley was buried on his farm, which Chalack has owned since 1976, and to where Marriott, now 70, made his long and emotional journey from Vancouver on Oct. 16.
“My grandfather goes halfway around the world to serve for his country under terrible conditions so long ago, so it was very easy for me to go there,” said Marriott, who last visited his grandfather's gravesite about 65 years ago.
Marriott's heartfelt return to the remote farm gravesite was accompanied by the Chalack family, their neighbours, friends, a committed group from the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion and a retired local pastor.
Their mission was to right a wrong from the past at the gravesite, located on a wooded bluff where the view to the west is spectacular, with a creek valley below and rolling prairie farmland stretching out beyond as far as the eye can see. Ninety-six years earlier a magnificent Medley family headstone was installed, and on Oct. 18 a commission headstone was set beside it.
At midday, the legion service began with piper Michael McLetchie's sonorous Crusader's March, gently segueing into Rev. Ronald Dowbush's passionate dedication that reminded his audience the once privileged University of Oxford student had everything to live for, but gave it all up for his new country.
“He is a true hero and we recognize that fact today. Edgar Medley's sacrifice and heroic service have gone unnoticed for 95 years,” said Dowbush. “Thanks to the dedicated and persistent efforts of volunteers we now know who Lance-Cpl. Medley is, and what he has done and that we can honour him with the honour he so richly deserves.”
Marriott then spoke lovingly of the grandfather he never knew and passed around a Widow's Penny given to his family by the British government many decades ago in recognition of his military service.
“I was there when my grandmother passed away. I was there when my father and mother passed away, and now I feel I have been there for my grandfather too. It is very special,” said Marriott, choking back tears.
In 1936, Medley's daughter Eileen was invited by the federal government to attend the dedication service for the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial site in France. The fallen soldier was recognized there among the thousands who had perished, but it would take nearly another 80 years, on the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, for his bravery, alongside the sacrifice of Lloyd and Cameron, to be recognized in Canada.
“I cannot believe how much effort everybody has gone to for him to be honoured in this way,” said Sutherland, who visited her grandfather's gravesite 15 years ago and will go again with her family next spring or summer. “I can assure you my mother and grandmother would have been thrilled absolutely beyond measure. Nobody knew us and they have gone through years of effort to have this done. It is phenomenal.”
