An Ontario resident is looking for information on an Estevan man who was killed during the Second World War.
John Goldsmith is general counsel for the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario, and is also a partner in an fly-in outpost camp located on Sava Lake in northern Saskatchewan. Sava Lake is named for Private Joseph Sava, who hailed from Estevan and was killed in 1944, less than a year before the war ended.
“We already have a picture and some background on him,” Goldsmith said in an interview with Lifestyles. “We sit there in the evenings and try to think and remember what he did for our country.”
The picture of Sava is part of a larger image created by Doug Chisholm, who took pictures of lakes in northern Saskatchewan, and did research on individuals who served and have their names attached to the lakes.
Goldsmith said he wants to know if Sava has any living descendants in the Estevan area, or elsewhere, and can supply some information on his service.
“We’re thinking of putting a memorial up on the lake, and either sending a picture or a small video of it (to his descendants), or actually having them attend when we do it, depending on health and age, and who it is,” said Goldsmith.
Citing the book Age Shall Not Worry Them: Saskatchewan Remembers its War Dead by Chisholm, Beth Parsons and Bill Barry, Goldsmith said he has some information about Sava and his service. The book was released in 2005 to commemorate Saskatchewan’s centennial year and the National Year of the Veteran.
Sava was a private in the South Saskatchewan Regiment based out of Estevan. He was killed at Verrières Ridge in Normandy on July 20, 1944, at the age of 26.
“They have a memorial there, I’ve never seen it, called the Bayou Memorial for unknown soldiers who were killed at Normandy,” said Goldsmith. “He’s part of that.”
Goldsmith noted the location where Sava is buried is unknown.
Sava’s father was named Michael and his mother Yzefa. They came from Poland in 1906 and settled in the Estevan area a decade later.
“That’s pretty much everything I know about him, or our group knows about him,” said Goldsmith.
Goldsmith noted Sava Lake is located northeast of Wollaston Lake.
Anyone with information about Sava can contact Goldsmith at 416-365-1900, or email him at john@ribo.com.
