[Discov] British and Australian soldiers buried at Fromelles (found also men's personal effects)

[DAVIDE]

Fewer World War I bodies burried at Fromelles


ESTIMATES of the number of Australian and British soldiers buried in a mass grave at the World War I battleground of Fromelles have been downgraded from 400 to 300 soldiers.
Defence Personnel Minister, Greg Combet said yesterday that more than 100 sets of remains had been recovered and the project to remove and re-inter the soldiers in a military cemetery was "on track".
The archeological excavation at Pheasant Wood in Fromelles, which began in May, is expected to be completed in September.
Mr Combet said that fewer remains were being found in each burial pit than expected.




Artefacts discovered in WWI mass graves



Archaeologists excavating mass graves believed to contain soldiers from Norfolk and Suffolk have discovered artefacts providing clues to the nationality of the dead men.

Twelve soldiers from the two counties are thought to be among between 250 and 300 British and Australian troops buried in the graves at Fromelles in northern France during the first world war.

They include men from Norwich; Yarmouth; Lowestoft; Beccles; Ditchingham, near Beccles; Pentney, near King's Lynn; Fakenham; and Tatterford, near Fakenham.

Archaeologists have excavated the first two graves and work is already advanced on the next two. They have made a number of finds directly linking bodies with the British or Australian armies, including a heart-shaped leather pouch containing a solid gold cross and a copper alloy crucifix, a leather heart, a leather coin purse with its contents and a leather wrist strap.

Last week a whole boot with sock and inner stocking was recovered and a paper train ticket found. The ticket was a second class return from Fremantle to Perth, where Western Australian soldiers signed up for duty. Fremantle was their point of embarkation for Europe.

The artefacts are said to demonstrate the excellent conditions for preservation within the graves containing the hastily buried bodies of men killed during the Battle of Fromelles, which began on July 19, 1916, and resulted in heavy losses for the Allies.

Australian forces suffered 5,533 casualties, the country's heaviest military casualty rate ever recorded, while 1,547 British soldiers were killed, wounded or recorded as missing.

Excavation work began in May and is on schedule for completion in September. DNA samples are currently being taken from a number of the remains and it is hoped this will be able to link the soldiers to living relatives.

All remains will be buried in a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery currently under construction at the site.

Malcolm Weale, who runs East Harling-based Geofizz and used radar equipment to discover the grave site, said he was delighted with the progress made so far.

“I think it's absolutely amazing and the tip of the iceberg,” said Mr Weale, who returned to Fromelles after the first bodies were discovered.

“It was very, very moving. Some people have said they should be left where they are, but they didn't look at rest or at peace to me.

“I'm pleased that we're starting to treat our servicemen with respect. I'm hoping more Norfolk families will come forward for DNA testing.”

Louise Loe, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, said: “The momentum of the operation continues to be excellent; indeed, we are slightly ahead of schedule.

“All of us involved on the project are honoured to be here. Although at times it is a deeply moving experience, we are focussed on the job in hand: giving these men the dignity in death they so richly deserve.”

The 93rd anniversary of the battle takes place on Sunday and will be marked in a traditional ceremony by the villagers of Fromelles, who lay wreaths at the site.

Sources:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-31477,00.html
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/conte...A01%3A35%3A013

[DAVIDE]

DNA could trace Bradford on Avon soldier killed in WWI battle


The family of a Bradford on Avon soldier who died in a First World War battle 93 years ago this month hope that DNA from a living relative will help to find his remains in a mass grave so they can give him a proper burial.
Westbury woman Rosina Clark, whose great uncle Private Walter John Deverell died in the Battle of Fromelles in northern France in July 1916, stumbled across the news of her relative’s death while researching her family tree and has been looking into his life for the past two years.
They found his name engraved on a plaque at Westwood Church near Bradford on Avon, along with all the names of other local men who lost their lives during the First World War, as he had lived in Avoncliff before serving the the Great War with The Gloucestershire Regiment.
Mrs Clark, 69, of Penwood Close, Westbury, said: “I hadn’t known what to get my brother for his 40th wedding anniversary so we had looked into a family tree and had found out that Walt had died at Fromelles in July 1916 and it is thought he was buried in a mass grave by Germans along with many other English and Australian servicemen.
“It would be amazing if we could lay him to rest properly in the cemetery they are creating in Fromelles especially for those who died.”
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been in touch with Mrs Clark and her family, regularly updating them on the excavation work that is being carried out.
Work began in the spring to exhume the remains of up to 400 unknown soldiers found in five burial pits on the edge of Pheasant Wood near Fromelles.
The commission has requested a DNA sample from a relative to try and identify the remains of Mr Deverell.
Mrs Clark said: “They have asked for my aunt Gwen’s DNA because she is the eldest out of Walt’s nieces and nephews, I’m not sure why they chose her or how the DNA test will be taken, but they said it is likely to happen this month.
“We just have to wait with bated breath. Every time the phone rings I think they are calling to tell me about Walt. It would be wonderful if they found him.”
Mr Deverell's niece Gwen Hird said: “Walt was my mother’s only brother and he was only 20 when he died. So I think its marvellous that we may be able to find out more about him as he was talked about so much by my mother and I never knew him because I was born in 1925 after he had died.
“I think it would be lovely to find Walt and my brother and sister are quite keen to find out more as well so I am happy to give a DNA sample to find out about him.”
As well as finding out about her great uncle, who is her grandmother’s brother, Mrs Clark would also like to find out more about her grandfather’s brother Albert Moore and his side of the family.
She said: “It would be nice to find out more about Albert’s side of the family because we don’t know much about that side and if there were any relatives that we didn’t know about.”




Relatives of WW1 soldier Walter John Deverell, who was killed at the the Battle of Fromelles, at Westwood Church. From left are nieces Gwen Hird, Betty Robinson and nephew John Moore and great niece Rosina Clark



Source: http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news...in_WWI_battle/



Fromelles relatives anxiously await DNA report



Australian officers at the Fromelles site in May, when the dig began.





RELATIVES of soldiers buried in WWI mass graves at Fromelles are anxiously awaiting a report on the viability of using DNA identification.
Researchers from London-based firm LGC Forensics are due within the next week to report to the Federal Government on the reliability of DNA results from soldiers' remains in the mass opits and wht proportion can be matched to living descedents.
The firm are under scrutiny from relatives of many of the 191 soldiers whose names are known to identify as many as possible.

LGC Forensics have been testing the remains from Pheasant Wood, where the Germans buried hunderds of victims of the disastrous 1916 battle. the remians are being extracted by Oxford Archeology on behalf of the British and Australian armies.

The report is due to be forwarded by the month's end to the office of Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science Greg Combet.

"We are anxiously awaiting to see how high the hit rate is in identifying DNA from the remains uncovered," said spokesman for the relatives, Melbourne-based Lambis Englezos.

"We're hoping that a high proportion of the remains found will have DNA traceable, so it can be matched with the descendents.

"These descendents are anxious this be possible before the bodies are due to be buried next July at a new cemetery in Fromelles - they don't want anything rushed to meet that arbitrary deadline, they want proper burials with names."

There has been discussion in scientific circles over whether the methods being used are the best possible to give the highest chance of DNA tracing - whether taking of rib or dental samples are as reliable as taking samples from a load-bearing bone such as the fema.

Several years ago German authorities found a list of 191 names of Australian and British soldiers killed at the World War I battleground of Fromelles.

German soldiers of the day recorded names or rank and unit of their enemy killed in battle before burying them in a number of pits.

The list has helped narrow some of the hundreds of names of soldiers lost in battle that July 19-20, 1916, the bloodiest 24 hours in Australia's military history, who may be buried at Pheasant Wood.

The site was only officially rediscovered last year after many years of research and lobbying from Mr Englezos and other enthusiasts.

The list has been cross checked with military records of the failed British-led attack that saw 5553 Australian soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

Of the 191 names, relatives have been traced for about 120, according to the Australian Army.

“We have reached a stage where we are reasonably confident of our current working list we have compiled,” it has written in a letter being sent to families who believe they had a relative lost in that battle.

“Although we can’t consider the list exhaustive or an accurate account of all those buried at Fromelles, it provides a good starting point for further investigation and good focus for our continued research.”

A cross section of the remains of some of the diggers so far unearthed, by a team from Oxford Archaeology, will be DNA profiled to establish the feasibility of identifying all remains found so as to give them a named grave.

So far LGC Forensics, the London firm responsible for DNA tracking from the samples collected by Oxford Archeology, have identified dozens of DNA samples.

But the relatives expecte the majority should be tracked down.

From early next year the soldiers will be buried, one by one, in a new cemetery on a ridge at Fromelles near the village church.

It will be officially opened next July 19, the battle's 94th anniversary.

Some of the remains have been recovered from the pits, some of whose units are identifiable by badges, buttons and scraps of uniform.

Skeletal remains, hair and teeth samples have been recovered.

It is believed that about 300 sets of remains may be buried, rather than up to 500 originally hoped, with the majority being Australian and the rest British.


Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...60-663,00.html