As a child, Wray Heywood didn't know much about his uncle, who died while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.
“My grandmother, my uncle’s mother, would never speak about him. They were very sad when he was lost in the war,” said Haywood, who lives in Rouleau, southwest of Regina.
William Wray Heywood had just completed a bombing mission and was flying back to base in England when his plane was hit on May 7, 1941.
“Plane wreckage had been found and... some of his personal items had been taken from the wreckage,” said Wray Heywood.
“There was a French fellow that held them and he wanted to return them to a relative of (William) Wray Heywood.”
That "French fellow" owned the field where Haywood's plane went down. For 70 years, he held onto two possessions. One is a watch that was found at the crash site. The second is a bracelet engraved with the fallen soldier's name, number and the inscription ‘With love from Olive,” his wife.
Last year, Wray Heywood attended a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day. It was at that ceremony where he and his family were presented with his uncle's watch and bracelet. It's a day the Haywood family will not forget.
“We all know what went on in the Second World War and the First World War,” Wray Heywood said.
“But to actually have a relative that served there and didn't come back, gave the ultimate sacrifice, it's something to remember.”
Based on a report by CTV Regina’s Kelsey Chadwick
