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Lieutenant Lawrence Browning Rogers was older than most of his Canadian trench-mates. He had signed up for the First World War at the age of 37, leaving behind a wife and two children on their modest family farm in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

A few months short of his 40th birthday, amid the hellish blood and mud of Passchendaele, he was hit by a German shell while tending to wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

Today, Lt. Rogers would be remembered, if at all, only by distant relatives, just another of the roughly 68,000 Canadians killed in "the war to end all wars." Except for one thing. Still tucked snugly in the pocket of his uniform, as he lay dead on the battlefield, was a small, shabby teddy bear sent to him by his polio-stricken 10-year-old daughter, Aileen, in hopes that it would keep him safe.

More than 90 years later, as every Canadian who fought on those far-off killing fields has passed on, Aileen's teddy bear is still around. Legless, eyeless. But a survivor.

The bear is on display at the Canadian War Museum. His tale is included in an education guide based on Paul Gross's film Passchendaele. And he is the subject of a just-published children's book co-written by Lt. Rogers's great-granddaughter, Stephanie Innes.

The evocative, bittersweet account, A Bear in War, relates the saga of the man who wanted to be brave, and tiny "Teddy," who narrates most of the story: "The journey was long and I lost track of time. Finally, someone tore open the box. It was Daddy! 'Teddy!' he said, squeezing me tight and smiling. Daddy placed me in the front pocket of his army jacket and gave me a pat on the head. 'Well, my brave little bear, it's you and me now.' "

With the approach of the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, Ms. Innes has been taking the book into schools. She has found that, while the adults can be moved to tears, the dry-eyed kids are consumed by the details.

"They are really interested in the fact that it's true, that it's really a story about a family in the war, not just the war," Ms. Innes said.

The story of Aileen's heartfelt gesture, and its sad conclusion, was first told in The Globe and Mail as part of a project by the Dominion Institute and the newspaper that asked Canadians to send in family artifacts from the First World War. It was after reading the article that Ms. Innes's co-author, Harry Endrulat, first got in touch with the family about writing a book.

Lt. Rogers's granddaughter, Roberta Innes, remembers hearing about the bear for the first time from her aunt Aileen, shortly before she died at the age of 93. "She told me that she had given it as a gift to her father, and that it didn't have any legs," Mrs. Innes said.

A few years later, she discovered the legless bear while sorting through a briefcase containing Lt. Rogers's letters. "It's very small and sort of non-descript. When I sent it in to the Globe, I didn't think it was anything at all, really. I didn't realize its sentimental and historical value."

The simple story just seems to resonate with people, Mrs. Innes said. "You know, you hear that more than 60,000 Canadians died, that Canada came of age at Passchendaele, and all these things. But until there's something that actually touches families, it's just a bunch of statistics."

Last Sunday, the teddy achieved yet another honour. Surrounded by the paintings of the Group of Seven, Teddy was put on special display at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection gallery in Kleinburg, Ont., for a day of readings and children's activities.

In its own little way, the bear's survival is a tribute to her grandfather and all the forgotten men of the First World War, Mrs. Innes said.

"He wasn't anybody special. There were so many casualties, he could have gotten lost. ...

"We didn't know about the Lawrence Browning Rogers of the war, and I think that's the one good thing about all of this, and why it's made such a wonderful story."