This portrait of Lt. Francis Hemsley is in the possession of his family who currently live in England.
From his home office in West Yorkshire, England, Richard Hemsley flips through a folder of papers. He decides on one, then looks up.
"His family, though regretting his untimely end, have cause to feel proud of him and his glorious death," he reads.Though he never met his grandfather, Richard and his family know so much about Francis thanks to decades of their own research.That missing link took a few Canadians — and some buttons — to piece together.Francis Hemsley was born in England in 1880.
"My feeling is wanted to take part not only on behalf of Canada, which is where they had taken up residence and become naturalized, but also for England fighting a war against Germany," said Richard. In 2012, Lt. Hemsley's remains were discovered by a bomb-disposal crew that was clearing space for construction in Venden-le-Vieil, France, according to Canada's Department of National Defence . Along with his bones, the crews found pieces of a gas mask and helmet, a pair of boots and several buttons that said "16th Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment."
But last year, they tried again with new DNA technology. The team successfuly extracted paternal DNA from Francis's bones, unlocking new relatives and leading Lockyer to Richard Hemsley. Lockyer said this case was also unique since it's the first remains of an officer she's identified — normally working with the bodies of privates or sergeants."Most of the time, admittedly, when we call either DNA donors or we determine who the next of kin is for somebody that we've identified, they have no idea who we're talking about," said Lockyer.
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