Woman to honour father at ceremony - Florence Layton and her son Bert hold Mrs. Layton’s father’s wartime medals.
Every evening, as the sun sets in Ypres, Belgium, the long drawn-out notes of two bugles signal traffic to come to a stop at the Menin Gate Memorial. The Last Post honours the 55,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First World War whose only grave is that of the Unknown Soldier.
For nearly 80 years, that sombre ceremony was one of the only tributes to Frank Forsdike, a corporal from the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles killed in June 1916 at the Battle of Mount Sorrel in Belgium.
But next Saturday, thanks to the timely connection of long-lost cousins from opposite sides of the Atlantic, a public ceremony will be held in Berwick to present the unclaimed service medals of Cpl. Forsdike to Florence Layton, his recently found 94-year-old daughter.
"This means so much to Mom," Bert Layton, Florence’s son, said from his Berwick home. "She says it’s been a real blessing that she can celebrate him in such a public way."
Florence was only two years old when her father was killed in action and her mother remarried shortly after the war.
She only found out when she was 18 that the man who raised her was not her biological father.
A typographical error in the name Forsdike on Florence’s birth certificate made tracking family history tough — something she and her three children tried unsuccessfully over the years.
Then last fall, while searching online for information about "the mystery name in the family tree," Mr. Layton came across a website dedicated to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles.
Incredibly, he found a reference to his mother and grandmother as well as a family photograph taken in 1915 — the only one known to exist. "I couldn’t believe my eyes," said Mr. Layton. "It was incredibly exciting."
Three days later, he sent an e-mail to the website manager with the subject line: distant cousin.
When Ian Forsdike, sitting at his computer in Bedford, England, received the e-mail, he almost fell out of his chair.
"When I started reading, I became quite emotional," Mr. Forsdike said. "It was the end of 12 years of searching."
Mr. Forsdike created the website three years ago to learn more about his great-grandfather’s brother, whose military service had intrigued him ever since he read his ancestor’s name engraved on the Menin Gate Memorial.
"It was a personal loss in that moment," said Mr. Forsdike. "I have no explanation as to why that happened."
In his search, he found other Forsdikes in Canada and England, but he was most interested in Frank’s family.
Until that auspicious day last November, his search had proved fruitless. And when Mr. Forsdike discovered Florence was still alive, he said he couldn’t believe it. He travelled to Nova Scotia to meet his new-found family over the holidays and they applied to collect Frank’s medals from Veterans Affairs.
"Medals should not sit in a vault and not see the light of day," he said.
On May 10, almost 92 years after Frank Forsdike was killed on the front lines of Belgium, sunlight will shine on his medals.
The Royal Canadian Legion in Berwick will hold a formal ceremony, where Cpl. Forsdike’s medals will be officially presented to his daughter.
Ian Forsdike, who is speaking at the event, said the most important thing is that Florence gets to honour her father.
"It is so important that Frank’s sacrifice be remembered," said Mr. Forsdike. "And this can bring closure for Florence, who never knew her father."
by Mark Iype
Chronicle Herald
4 May 08
