EvanL
04-03-2004, 01:54 PM
By Kyla Duncan - Staff Reporter
L/Cpl. K.S. Ferguson
Family and long lost friends of Lance Cpl. Kenneth Scott Ferguson, a member of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons who was killed in action in the Second World War, will be honoured Friday in Zevenaar, Netherlands.
A bridge which spans a railway crossing where Ferguson was killed in 1945 during the liberation of Holland, will be named after the fallen soldier in Zevenaar (just miles from the German border), on the 59th anniversary of his death.
The ceremony comes more than a year after two local 26th-12th Manitoba Dragoon museum volunteers, Gord Sim and curator Ross Neal, helped the Zevenaar municipal government settle a dispute by pinpointing exactly where Ferguson was shot and killed.
“This was the subject of dispute and they wrote to see what kind of information we could provide,” Sim said. “The information we gave about the railway crossing being down definitely located (where Ferguson was killed.)”
After Sim and Ross provided the information about the exact location of Ferguson’s death, the Zevenaar government decided to name a new bridge spanning the rail crossing where the 19-year-old Ferguson died.
Ferguson was originally from Lanark, Ont., and is believed to have joined the Manitoba Dragoons as a replacement in 1944. He was killed a mere two weeks before he had planned to leave for England to get married.
The Wheat City Journal was the first newspaper in North America and in Europe to report on the Ferguson bridge.
“It’s been quite a story to go through with all the things we have found,” Sim said.
Ferguson Bridge
Over the past year, said Sim, museum volunteers have managed to dig up much more information on Ferguson and contacted his remaining family, who were unaware of the honour being bestowed on Ferguson.
“They knew he was killed,” Sim said. “The other thing that came out of it was that Lance Cpl. Ferguson was getting married. They didn’t know that.”
More than 10 members of Ferguson’s family will attend the ceremony in Zevenaar, including his younger sister and three of his nieces and nephews.
The Zevenaar public has embraced this story, with local newspapers and television stations reporting on the ceremony. A local baker is even selling “Canadian muffins” all week, decorated with an edible maple leaf.
This article appears here with the kind permission of the Publisher of the Wheat City Journal.
Copyright © 2004 Wheat City Journal
L/Cpl. K.S. Ferguson
Family and long lost friends of Lance Cpl. Kenneth Scott Ferguson, a member of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons who was killed in action in the Second World War, will be honoured Friday in Zevenaar, Netherlands.
A bridge which spans a railway crossing where Ferguson was killed in 1945 during the liberation of Holland, will be named after the fallen soldier in Zevenaar (just miles from the German border), on the 59th anniversary of his death.
The ceremony comes more than a year after two local 26th-12th Manitoba Dragoon museum volunteers, Gord Sim and curator Ross Neal, helped the Zevenaar municipal government settle a dispute by pinpointing exactly where Ferguson was shot and killed.
“This was the subject of dispute and they wrote to see what kind of information we could provide,” Sim said. “The information we gave about the railway crossing being down definitely located (where Ferguson was killed.)”
After Sim and Ross provided the information about the exact location of Ferguson’s death, the Zevenaar government decided to name a new bridge spanning the rail crossing where the 19-year-old Ferguson died.
Ferguson was originally from Lanark, Ont., and is believed to have joined the Manitoba Dragoons as a replacement in 1944. He was killed a mere two weeks before he had planned to leave for England to get married.
The Wheat City Journal was the first newspaper in North America and in Europe to report on the Ferguson bridge.
“It’s been quite a story to go through with all the things we have found,” Sim said.
Ferguson Bridge
Over the past year, said Sim, museum volunteers have managed to dig up much more information on Ferguson and contacted his remaining family, who were unaware of the honour being bestowed on Ferguson.
“They knew he was killed,” Sim said. “The other thing that came out of it was that Lance Cpl. Ferguson was getting married. They didn’t know that.”
More than 10 members of Ferguson’s family will attend the ceremony in Zevenaar, including his younger sister and three of his nieces and nephews.
The Zevenaar public has embraced this story, with local newspapers and television stations reporting on the ceremony. A local baker is even selling “Canadian muffins” all week, decorated with an edible maple leaf.
This article appears here with the kind permission of the Publisher of the Wheat City Journal.
Copyright © 2004 Wheat City Journal