Fromelles Missing

Posted on 01/06/2008 by FFFAIF

Sunday’s FFFAIF update on the missing Diggers of Fromelles features a photograph of a peaceful Pheasant Wood taken only weeks prior to the archaeological dig.

Pheasant Wood 29 April 2008

A different perspective of Pheasant Wood can be seen on Google Earth at location:

50°36’35.71″N  2°51’16.00″E

Australian media reports, click on the links below:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=572503

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23789555-5001021,00.html

Martial Delebarre joins dig team
Martial Delebarre, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) officer has been permitted by the CWGC to work beside the GUARD team for three weeks as part of the special project at Fromelles. Martial has had a long interest in matters related to the battlefield and has been one of the founders and driving forces of the Fromelles & Weppes Terre de Mémoire 14-18 (visit the FWTM website at www.asbf14-18.org).
The following photograph shows Martial Delebarre with Neville Kidd and John Laffin in June 1990.

 

Neville Kidd, Martial Delebarre, John Laffin. June 1990

Neville Kidd, (left of photograph) was then researching his biography of Major Roy Harrison An Impression Which Will Never Fade (1999). John Laffin (1922-2000), the Founder and Patron-in-Memoriam of the FFFAIF was a frequent visitor to the battlefields.

Major Roy Harrison of the 54th Battalion was killed in no-man’s land early in the Battle of Fromelles but his remains were not found until 1921 and he is buried at Rue Petillon Cemetery. His headstone  can be located on the high resolution photographs in Google Earth at 50°37’50.65″N 2°50’9.94″E.

 

Major Harrison\'s grave Rue Petillon Cemetery, France

Don’t Forget Me, Cobber
In July 2006, the nine Network’s 60 Minutes program featured the Fromelles story as Don’t forget me, cobber. It included interviews with Lambis Englezos, Martial Delebarre and Yves Fohlen. For those who wish to view this significant piece of Australian television, click on the following link (and wait until after the obligatory advertisement):   
 
 

 

 

 

 

Call back tomorrow for updates. 
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