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As 2017 came to a close, StarPhoenix staff reflected on the stories that struck a personal chord with them this year. For Thia James, it was part of a series of stories marking the 100th anniversary of the battle at Vimy Ridge.

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Phillip Ledoux held up a black and white photocopy of a photo of a youthful portrait of his uncle, Charles Mususkapew.

He never had the chance to meet the man. Mususkapew died during the First World War. Ledoux’s mother was only a toddler when her older brother was killed in combat in 1918. He survived the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which claimed thousands of Canadian soldiers between April 9 and 12, then lost his life during the Battle of Amiens. The young sniper was killed by a German sniper.

My conversations with Ledoux were part of the research and preparation for a series of stories about some of Saskatchewan’s soldiers who took part in the battle at Vimy in France.

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The series needed to tell stories with personal accounts, but since all veterans of the Great War are gone, their families became the primary source of information. The legacy of the soldiers’ service, who they were and what that meant to their loved ones, deserved attention.