Fromelles Soldiers remembered

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Agent General Kerry Sanderson AO was amongst those including The Prince of Wales and Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce at Fromelles,France on Monday to pay their respects as the last of the 250 soldiers from World War I who were reinterred in the new military cemetery at Pheasant Wood, the unknown soldier, was buried. Kerry Sanderson reflected on the moving nature of the ceremony, with many relatives of those buried or thought to be buried, attending and being visibly moved by the ceremony and the respect shown to those who died in the battle. The cemetery itself will become a place of pilgrimage and the peaceful beauty of the site is in stark contrast to the conditions faced by the soldiers.

The bodies of the soldiers were recovered from mass graves in the area of the battle in northern France in 1916. Following two years of painstaking excavation and DNA identification by scientists, historians and anthropologists, 205 of the bodies have been identified as Australian.

Identifying the unknown servicemen has involved collecting DNA contributions from 800 Australians, which resulted in 96 of the soldiers being buried with names. Eight of whom have been identified as West Australians. One of the mourners attending the commemorative service spoke movingly of a West Australian soldier who died having tucked a return ticket from Fremantle to Perth in one of the safest parts of his belongings, namely inside his gas mask.

More than 5,500 Australian soldiers and 1,700 British troops were killed, wounded or captured in 24 hours in the battle 94 years ago. The mass graves were only discovered in 2008.