{"id":249,"date":"2024-07-01T22:36:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T22:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/?p=249"},"modified":"2024-07-01T22:36:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T22:36:52","slug":"first-world-war-newfoundland-soldier-returns-home-for-final-resting-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/first-world-war-newfoundland-soldier-returns-home-for-final-resting-place\/","title":{"rendered":"First World War Newfoundland Soldier Returns Home for Final Resting Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ST. JOHN\u2019S, N.L.<\/em> – Hundreds of people filled the downtown streets of Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s capital city on Monday to pay their respects to a soldier from the First World War who died on the battlefields of France and has finally returned home.<\/p>\n

The unknown Newfoundland soldier was laid to rest in a black granite tomb at around 11 a.m. local time at the National War Memorial in St. John\u2019s. Despite a grey and wet morning, the rain stopped for the soldier\u2019s reinterment, which was marked by a powerful performance of the \u201cOde to Newfoundland.\u201d As members of the Royal Canadian Armed Forces gently placed a temporary cover over the soldier\u2019s final resting place, the skies opened up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore commit this body to the ground,\u201d Canadian Armed Forces chaplain Lt.-Col. Shawn Samson recited while standing at the head of the soldier\u2019s tomb. The crowd included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon. \u201cEarth to earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

July 1 is Memorial Day in Canada\u2019s easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, honoring those who have been killed in battle, especially the hundreds of young men from the Newfoundland Regiment who died during the disastrous fight at Beaumont-Hamel in northern France during the First World War. On the morning of July 1, 1916, about 800 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment charged over the top of the trenches with rifles and bayonets toward the Germans\u2019 machine-gun fire; only 68 made it to roll call the next morning. The rest were killed, wounded, or declared missing.<\/p>\n

Approximately 12,000 men from Newfoundland enlisted to fight in the First World War, and more than 3,500 were wounded or killed, according to Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. The island, not yet a part of Canada, had a population of about 240,000 at the time. The staggering number of casualties impacted the small population deeply and is still felt today.<\/p>\n

For some who watched Monday\u2019s ceremony, whether in person in St. John\u2019s or on television in smaller communities, the Unknown Soldier may have stood in the trenches beside their grandfathers or great uncles. The ceremony coincided with the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the National War Memorial in St. John\u2019s. The soldier\u2019s tomb will represent deceased Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from all branches of service who have no known grave, and thus the soldier\u2019s identity will not be investigated.<\/p>\n

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey acted as the unknown soldier\u2019s next of kin and walked behind the casket as it was carried up the steps toward the national monument. The monument features a statue of a woman holding a flaming torch high into the sky with her left hand and a sword pointed toward the ground in her right.<\/p>\n

Before the temporary cover was placed over the Unknown Soldier\u2019s tomb, it was sprinkled with 820 blue forget-me-nots, representing the 820 Newfoundland soldiers who fought in the First World War and have no known grave.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we welcome home one of ours,\u201d said veteran Perry Grandy, who co-led Monday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. JOHN\u2019S, N.L. – Hundreds of people filled the downtown streets of Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s capital city on Monday to pay their respects to a soldier from the First World War who died on the battlefields of France and has finally returned home. The unknown Newfoundland soldier was laid to rest in a black granite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,104],"tags":[616,617,618,619,281,620,621,622,623,624,625,626,627,124,390,628,629],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking","category-news","tag-burial","tag-canadian-history","tag-casualty","tag-first-world-war","tag-homecoming","tag-laid-to-rest","tag-memorial","tag-memorialization","tag-newfoundland","tag-newfoundland-soldier-who-died-in-the-first-world-war-laid-to-rest-at-home","tag-remembrance","tag-sacrifice","tag-soldier","tag-sr","tag-src","tag-tragic","tag-war-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}