A Toronto man who was hoping to find the family of a fallen Second World War soldier from Winnipeg has heard from two women claiming to be relatives.
Phillip Di Cecco inherited a military helmet from his grandparents, who found it the storage room of their Toronto house, purchased in the 60's.
'Templeton' is written on the inside of the helmet and the chin strap says Gagnon, J.E.
Di Cecco says he put the name into a military database a few years ago and found a Joseph Edward Gagnon that died in 1944.
On Remembrance Day of this year he posted a picture of the helmet with the information he had about Gagnon.
A friend found Gagnon's obituary (pictured below from the Veterans Affairs Canada website).
It said Gagnon was from East Kildonan and died in action in Italy.
After that, Di Cecco made another post in a local Facebook group, and connected with people here.
On Tuesday, Di Cecco heard from two elderly Winnipeg women who said they were related to Gagnon. They provided photos and details of their lives that made Di Cecco believe they were in fact Gagnon's family, including the address where the soldier grew up.
Di Cecco told CTV the women were "quite surprised and sentimental," and that he is working on arrangements to return the helmet to them.
