A soldier who was killed during the Second World War will be honoured at a ceremony in France this week.

Ralph Tupper Ferns, originally from Toronto, had been listed as missing since Aug. 14, 1944, when the 20-year-old disappeared during a battle near Normandy, France.

His whereabouts were unknown until a chance discovery in 2005 near the village of Haut Mesnil. A farmer plowing his field discovered the top of a soldier's helmet, under which Ferns' remains were found, including his badge from the Royal Regiment of Canada.

French authorities contacted the Canadian Veterans Affairs Department, and forensic investigator Laurel Clegg was assigned to identify the remains.

Using Ferns' badge, Clegg determined in which unit he served, and then cross-referenced his physical description against a list of soldiers from the unit who had been missing after the war.

"Pte. Ferns was a very tall young man," she told CBC. "He was about 6-1", which was highly unusual for the time."

Clegg said Private Ferns was in Haut Mesnil when his unit was bombed, and probably took shelter in a trench, where he was buried alive.

She worked Canadian phone books to track down Ferns' descendants, and found his nephew in Toronto, who provided a DNA sample to confirm the identity.

"It's not this sort-of hurray moment" when a positive ID is made, Clegg said. "But when you get the evidence, it's pretty nice."

Ferns' nephew Gary will be travelling to France to attend the ceremony. While he doesn't know anything about his uncle, the ceremony will be special, he said last week.

"We've always honoured Remembrance Day, and this is such an impact for us," he told CBC. "Now we're proud of what he has done for Canada, and the people of the world."

Ferns will be interred on Friday at a ceremony near the coast of Normandy.