Although there is the true story of one wealthy matron from Montreal who travelled to Belgium after the war, had her son disinterred, and smuggled his remains back to Canada. But I've only heard of this happening once,
It happened on more than on one occasion, but I think you are referring to Captain W.A.P Durie of the 58 Battalion CEF who fell in France and is now buried in St James cemetery in Toronto. His mother was Anna Peel /Durie who made national headlines over her first failed attempt to retrieve her sons corpse and the second more successful yet grisly expedition to France.
Thanks for the story. I'd never heard the Captain Durie tale before. The officer I posted about was with the 13th Bn, CEF, and had been a Militia officer with the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada before the war.
With all due apologies to
@HLD DMR, I mis-remembered the story. In
Gas Attack! The Canadians at Ypres, 1915 (1998 ) by Norm Christie, he tells of Guy Melfort Drummond, a Lieutenant with the 13th Bn, CEF. He was killed on April 22, 1915, the first day of Second Ypres. His remains were not found at the time.
Drummond came from one of the richest families in Montreal. He was good looking, a millionaire by age 26 and tall at 6'3". He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from McGill, was a Captain in the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada and married. He and his wife were awaiting the birth of their first child. When the war broke out, he accepted a commission in the CEF at the rank of Lieutenant.
Two days before Drummond's death, his brother-in-law, Tim Warren, was killed in battle. His sister was drowned two weeks later in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a U-Boat.
In 1919, while clearing out the Ypres battlefield, a grave marker bearing the inscription 'Unknown Canadian Officer - Royal Highlanders of Canada' was found. By measuring the femur, it was determined that the remains were for a person 6'3" in height. Drummond was reburied at Tyne Cot cemetery, the largest of the CWGC cemeteries with 12,000 buried soldiers.
There is no report of his mother coming to Belgium to retrieve his remains. I must have mixed up the story of Drummond with the story of Durie. I can only blame advancing age and my diminishing capacity.
Cheers,
Dan.