Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be able to rise in the house today to share the story of Sergeant Harold Wilfred Shaughnessy, whose remains were buried in an unknown grave in France for almost 100 years before recently being discovered in June 2016.
Shaughnessy fought in the Battle of Hill 70. Local historian Darren McCabe's interest was piqued when he heard about this discovery and McCabe learned that Shaughnessy was a St. Stephen native from New Brunswick Southwest. This past August, Sergeant Shaughnessy received a full military burial at Loos British Cemetery in France 100 years after his death. In a eulogy to his great uncle, Jack Kennedy read a moving letter that the sergeant had written to his family in 2016, where he said, “Don't cry mother, we are coming back”.
On Remembrance Day, the town of St. Stephen will place a special memorial banner at the cenotaph in remembrance of Sergeant Shaughnessy. We will remember them.