Missing for 75 years
Former Chief Records Officer, Mr Norm Christie, identified the Unknown Canadian Soldier (UCS) Sergeant Innis McKay MM buried in Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery while employed at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) in the 1990s. Sgt McKay one of the last casualties of the Second Battle of Passchendaele, having Fallen on the outskirts of the town, as it was captured on 10 November 1917, the final day of the battle.
Initially among the Missing for over seven years, McKay’s remains recovered in 1925 and placed in Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery, west of the town of Passchendaele. However, still unidentified, the name of Sergeant Innis McKay MM listed on the Menin Gate until the UCS in Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery proven to be his remains.
Military Medal
Sergeant Innis McKay 408828 one of the fortunate soldiers whose remains matched against a known loss many years after the war – in this case by then CWGC Chief Records Officer (Canadian) Norm Christie in 1992.
The match made on the basis of the MM award. The MM ribbon found with the remains and the unit affiliation (19th Battalion). Note in the other documents the CWGC records report this change. The original death records do not reflect the find.
Burial Report
This the Concentrations of Grave documentation at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that shows the record was changed when the 1992 identification of Sergeant McKay’s remains were reported and accepted.
Circumstances of Death Register
Circumstance of Death record for Sgt. McKay showing the date and place of the casualty.
Circumstance of Death record for Sgt. McKay showing the trench grave coordinates where reported lost in November of 1917. A mere 300 yards from where the body later recovered in October 1925.
E13 War Grave Register
Sergeant McKay’s E13 War Grave Register still suggests that his remains were not found and that his name listed on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Trench Maps
A 1917 era trench map of the area south of the Village of Passchendaele shows the location where the Circumstance of Death record shows that Sgt. McInnis lost (blue star). To the left (west) the area marked (red star) where his remains recovered in 1925 – a separation distance of about 300 yards.
The two locations 28.D.12.c.95.70 (found) and 28.D.12.d.6.7 (lost).
Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery and Extension
Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery begun by field ambulances of the 48th (South Midland) and 58th (London) Divisions in August 1917. It continued in use until January 1918 and at the Armistice contained only 86 graves.
Between 1924 and 1926, the original cemetery considerably enlarged when graves brought in from the surrounding battlefields and some small burial grounds in the area. The cemetery and extension essentially form a single site, but the records of the original burials and concentrations kept separately until combined in 2001.
The CEMETERY comprises Rows B to E of Plot I and in addition to the original burials, special memorials erected to two casualties known to have been buried in Westroosebeke Churchyard, whose graves could not be located. In all, 88 Commonwealth casualties of the Great War now buried or commemorated in the cemetery, also one German war grave.
The EXTENSION made up of Rows F to S of Plot I and all of Plot II, a total of 676 Commonwealth burials. Of these, 511 unidentified, such as this Unknown Canadian Sergeant of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
An examination of the Concentration of Grave records for Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery and Extension would likely reveal his identity. Recovered from Bellewaarde Ridge (28.J.7.c.3.8), likely a casualty of Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. Nine sergeants of the PPCLI fit this description.
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