Family members of a Canadian Forces member who recently died say they are being prevented from entering his home to retrieve his pregnant fiancee’s belongings.

Pte. Tyrell Vail died this month while stationed at 14 Wing Greenwood, a Canadian Forces base in Nova Scotia. The family says the military told them he died of a heart attack.

Following a memorial service held on the base Monday, the Vail family wanted to enter their son’s housing unit on the base, in order to retrieve some items, including the belongings of Sienna Potter, who is eight months pregnant with Vail’s child.

But the family says the military denied them entry.

“I’ve got the whole nursery set up,” said Potter, who also has a young son. “I’ve got the crib set up and all of (the unborn baby’s) clothes arranged.

“And for my son, I’ve got all of his toys and his clothing and diapers and wipes and breast pumps and everything that I’m going to need to be a mom to these two kids.”

Vail’s mother Julie told CTV Atlantic that the family asked the military for “just the baby things” and some other belongings.

“They wanted an itemized list of the things, and then they were going to send it to Ottawa, and maybe it would be OK’d,” Julie Vail said.

The grieving mother said she was “more than willing” to enter the housing unit with a military escort. “We just wanted to get it over with.”

Acting wing commander Lt.-Col. Jeff Davis says the base is following legal obligations by gathering documentation and determining the facts of the case, with the goal of allowing the family into the home.

“So that is what we’re trying to work on with the itemized list from the family,” Davis told CTV Atlantic. “And once we get approval to do that, we certainly will carry out that plan.”

Potter said the base quarters was “my home, too,” for nine months, and her son lived there as well.

“If we had known that there was going to be this much red tape when I left, I would have grabbed the stuff that I needed,” Potter said.

After being refused entry this week, the Vails hope that eventually they will be allowed in their son’s home on the base.

With a report by CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron