Families and Friends of the First AIF member Johan Durnez of Belgium (wearing his FFFAIF shirt) was amongst those fortunate enough to don their gumboots for the site visit at the Pheasant Wood archeological dig. [Today’s media updates are after Johan’s report]
Johan reports on the visit:
Last week (Thursday June 5th) we received an invitation from our friend Carole Laignel who is the secretary of the “F.W.T.M.14-18” [Fromelles Museum] to attend the explanation that was to be held for the inhabitants of Fromelles on Saturday at 10.45 am.
As you can imagine, we were very happy with this invitation and we were more than keen to go as Fromelles is only about 60 km from where we live here in Waregem. ……So, you can imagine that it did not take us very long to decide about the program for the Saturday morning !
It had been raining for several days and Carole sent us an e-mail that morning to let us know that we could better bring gumboots as the place was a bit muddy. And yes… muddy it was !!! Carole told us that they had 30 millilitres water on each square meter the day before… We arrived just in time and were warmly welcomed by Carole who took us to the site of Pheasant Wood. Soon we knew that her advice of bringing boots proved to be a very good one !
On the site were about fifty inhabitants of Fromelles and it was heart warming to see that all generations were there : young (let’s say “in their twenties”) and old (some looked in their late seventies or early eighties.) There were also very young, but these kids were more fascinated by the fact that they could play in this lovely sticky mud and water while daddy was listening to the explanation (I wonder what mummy will have said when they came home… )
A staff member of the Australian Embassy in Paris explained to the people how and why the excavation was done and what the possible plans are for the future. I don’t think that I have to write all this down because of it were the things that you can read in all your media as it was a summary of all this information but wonderfully translated in French (I wished I could speak in French like this Aussie did !)
In case you have not seen and read it :Carole also sent us this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7430622.stm If you have not watched it yet, have a look at the news fragment as it will provide you with some good views on the site of excavation (and good explanation.) (You can watch an extra fragment on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7429747.stm or listen to this http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7430000/7430703.stm ). You also find reports and photos on http://www.defence.gov.au/fromelles/updates.htm
After that introduction, the people could ask questions to Dr Tony Pollard who is the Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology (Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division) and to Head of (the Australian) Army History Unit, Mr Roger Lee. Questions and answers were translated by the man of the Embassy. The Australian Major General O’Brien was there too but he did not take part in the meeting. Lambis Englezos was also on the site but he did not act as an official spokesman but answered on one or two of the questions that had to do with his involvement in this case.
As you can see on the photos, the people were kept away from the pits where the excavation was going on. (photo Carole Laignel) (and me on the extreme right making photos !)
from left to right : Mr Roger Lee, Dr Tony Pollard, the staffmember of the Embassy (the church of Fromelles is seen on the left)
So, this is all what we could see of the work. But I can fully understand that they did not allow the visitors to get closer. First there were the muddy conditions and to go closer with at least fifty people could have caused serious damage to the work. And it was also a good way to avoid that anybody would make pictures of things and items that can better kept off the internet.
Now, what may be interesting for you to know is how the feelings were from these locals. (And keep in mind : I write this as a Belgian – so, I consider myself as ‘neutral’.)
Well, I think that you all would have been moved by the great respect that these French people show to these graves and their great fear that anything would/will be done that can disgrace this place. I remember that one of the questions/concerns was : “Will you (= Australian/British/French authorities) make sure that this field will not become a place where treasure hunters will appear as soon as the archaeological team has left ?” They mentioned the fact that many ‘WWI treasure hunters’ seem come to the Fromelles area with metal detectors for all sorts of findings and they don’t want that these would come to Pheasant Wood to find war related items and desecrate the place. The answer was that the place will be secured (in an invisible way – maybe by having a steel net (like they use to arm concrete – I hope I use the right word ‘steel net’ ?) just below the surface so that any digging will be impossible. The authorities also intend to ask officially to the inhabitants and youth of Fromelles to keep an eye on the place and to alarm the police as soon as they see people who go there with bad intentions. Well, I can tell you that they immediately had about fifty volunteers who promised to keep an eye on the place !
Another concern of the locals was that there may be a chance that all the bodies will be taken out of the graves and sent back to their home countries. The general feeling was that these men had died there for the freedom of the French and that the least thing the locals can do is to take care of their graves and to show their respects and to keep the memories alive of what has happened there in 1916. I even think that many would feel a kind of offended if the mass graves would be emptied and the bodies would be repatriated. Most of them would be very happy to see that Pheasant Wood would become a place that looks like VC Corner: a place with markers in the grass that show the five pits where bodies have been discovered and where they can have their commemorations or where you can go for a moment of silence.
I think that the most moving question came from an older man. He asked (in French) to the staff member of the Embassy: “Monsieur… I ask your permission to conclude this meeting with a minute of silence in honour all these young men who died here in our community and whose graves finally have been found.” I noticed that the staff member was a kind of surprised by the question but also moved by this request. And everyone who had heard the soft and gentle voice of this older man immediately agreed that we should have this minute of silence.
Well, that was really the most special moment of that morning. The generator of the pumps was switched off and then silence fell over Pheasant Wood… an impressive silence and I wished you could have shared this moment with us. During this minute I was thinking of this well know sentence on the school building in Villers Bretonneux “Never Forget Australia”. Well… in Fromelles it is (for as far as I know) not written on the wall of the local school but I can tell you: “Never forget Australia” is written in the hearts of the people of this small town in Northern France and I am sure that you can never find a better place and better people to be the guard for these eternal resting places. I noticed that already in the Summer of 2006 when we attended the big ceremonies on VC Corner and at the Cobbers Memorial: when these people go to the ceremony it is really because of they want to pay tribute to these young people from England and Australia who gave their lives and not just to see a kind of spectacle or military parade.
I am sorry that I can’t provide you with photos of the excavations itself, but I wanted to let you know what will probably not have been in your media: the great appreciation of these French people for what has been done and their great dedication to keep the memory alive.
Next Friday at 11 am (so that’s 5 PM, 6.30 PM or 7 PM where you live) there will be a short ceremony on the site of Pheasant Wood to conclude this unique archaeological campaign. If you think of the men in Fromelles on that hour… then we will all feel united.
Lest We Forget
Johan Durnez
BELGIUM
Today’s media reports include debate on the fate of the Missing at Fromelles:
The Herald Sun: Leave Australians in Peace in French battlefield graves. Click here.
The Daily Telegraph: Fromelles dignity must be kept. Click here.
The Wimmera Mail-Times: Graves end war search. Click here.
From the British viewpoint:
The Slough & Langley Observer: Families can bury war dead at last. Click here.
You may not have seen an interview from the BBC aired at the beginning of the excavations, which features Lambis Englezos. It’s worth a look. Click here to view.
LOOK FOR MORE NEWS TOMORROW.
FROMELLES is NOT honoured on The Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney. FFFAIF supports the recognition of FROMELLES on all state memorials.