Ret’d Canadian Forces Officer Seeking Public Help to Honour Saskatchewan Veterans

This news release was originally distributed by Will Chabun via email on May 9, 2024.

NEWS RELEASE

Retired Canadian Forces officer Brad Hrycyna is asking the public to help him honour some long-deceased Saskatchewan veterans.

Hrycyna is a volunteer with The Last Post Fund, which aims to give us dignified burials, and headstones to Canadian military veterans. But the fund can’t do so without proof that these individuals have had military service in their backgrounds.

For a ceremony in mid-May, Hrycyna is trying to find members of the family of Rifleman Denis Celestin Denniel. His military service has already been established, but Hrycyna  hopes to find Denniel’s relatives before a headstone is placed at his grave in the Veterans Plot of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Swift Current at 2 p.m. on 17 May.

Rifleman Denniel was born on May 5, 1917 in Val Marie and enrolled for service in the Second World War on June 27, 1940. He was a member of the Regina Rifle Regiment and on June 6, 1944 participated in the D-Day landing on Juno Beach, where he was wounded.

He recovered from his wounds and served the remainder of the war in the Provost Corps as a military policeman. He continued to serve in the army until Jan. 28, 1954. Denniel died in Swift Current on Jan. 27, 1968. Where are his relatives?

There are four other individuals buried in Mount Pleasant cemetery that Hrycyna wants to research. The dates and ages of some indicate they might have served in either the South African War or the First World War.

The four names on temporary markers are:

·  Brown, Robert J. (born 1869 and died Sept. 20, 1924);

·  Hobert, Oliver Emanuel (born Sept. 28, 1879 and died March 18, 1913);

·  Webb, Arthur Leason (born 1900 and died Sept. 20 1924); and,

·  Wilson, Thomas Rowe (born May 25, 1877 and died March 28, 1961).

An article from the Southwest Booster newspaper in Swift Current is attached.

Hrycyna can be contacted at dragoon49@hotmail.ca or 1-306-539-5305.

An article from the April 18, 2024 edition of Swift Current’s newspaper “Southwest Booster” detailing the project.