Honourable senators, my grandson, Kai Millar Ewing, is a descendant of Edwin Edgar Jr. Born in 1896 in Greenspond, Newfoundland and Labrador, he was the son of Helen Ewing Edgar and Edwin Edgar Sr.

In December 1914, aged 18, Edwin enlisted at the C.L.B. Armoury in St. John’s as a proud member of the Newfoundland Regiment. The enlistment of her youngest child had Helen overwrought with fear. Edwin Sr. felt that Edwin should be supported in “doing his bit,” and that this war would be “of short duration” and “the making of young Edwin.”

In February 1915, Edwin sailed for Europe, for the first time seeing another world far from his beloved Newfoundland. By April 1916, his regiment was in France preparing for the summer offensive on the Somme. It was here where the event that would forever be etched into the hearts and memories of Newfoundlanders was about to unfold.

Beaumont-Hamel on July 1, 1916 — to this day, it is the first piece of island history passed to the children of Newfoundland and Labrador. There were 800 Newfoundlanders who entered an onslaught of machine gun fire, from which only 68 answered the morning roll call. The advance halted only because “dead men could advance no further.”

How did Edwin feel on that defining morning? Did he advance through the hail of bullets “with his chin tucked into his collar as if shielding himself from the bite of a Newfoundland blizzard”?

Edwin was reported missing in action on July 1, 1916. As the news of the losses from the regiment spread to every community, Edwin’s family held out hope that he had survived. By October, they were finally informed that Edwin had been killed in action. He was 19 years old. Edwin has no known grave. His resting place is known unto God, and his name is etched beneath the caribou at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.

With the repatriation from France of the unknown soldier of Newfoundland, Edwin and all the lost sons of our beloved island have returned. In the words of The Ennis Sisters:

Too soon to leave this earth

How could all your work be done

Ash to ash and dust to dust

Seemed to me you just begun . . .

I will sing you home

They are now home.

Thank you.