The Hon. Warren Snowdon MP, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, in the presence of Garrie Hutchinson from the Friends of the Fifteenth Brigade, announced at the ‘Cobbers’ statue in the grounds of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on Thursday afternoon that:
a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery would be created at or near the Pheasant Wood site and the soldiers’ remains would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones.
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Lambis Englezos, whose research was instrumental in convincing the Australian Army to investigate the site welcomed the decision. He hoped that the Minister would ensure that each soldier’s remains would be DNA tested so that as many of the soldier’s remains can be identified and at least some of the families of the Diggers would be given the opportunity to participate in the dignified reburial of their soldier.
Photo: Tim Whitford (left hand side) and Lambis Englezos (centre) at Pheasant Wood, May 2008 [Lambis Englezos]
Tim Whitford, whose Uncle Harry Willis is one of the Diggers buried at Pheasant Wood said “at long last, a decent and appropriate reburial for our heroes. Ninety-two years they have waited for this outcome. Maybe now, they will be at peace.”
Martial Delebarre OAM, President of the Fromelles Weppes Territoriale Memoriale, who is currently visiting Australia for the unveiling to of the replica “Cobbers” statue in Melbourne, welcomed the news. He assisted the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD) in the recent archaeolgical dig and said it was a most moving experience. He noted that Monsieur Hubert Huchette, Mayor of Fromelles, had just returned to Fromelles and would be most pleased with the news. He said “Every Australian national can be very happy with the decision”. He looks forward to seeing the Australian diggers and their British Chums in arms reburied in the new cemetery in rows according to their pits so they are not separated. He thanked the Australian Government and the goodwill of the many Australians involved in acting quickly to make this decision and assured Australians that “the Mayor and the people of Fromelles will look after the fallen cobbers.”
Photo: Hubert Huchette and Martial Delebarre at Australian Memorial Park Fromelles [Carole Laignel ]
The President of the Families and Friends of the First AIF, Russell Curley, also welcomed the announcement as “a great comfort to the familes of the Australian soldiers. The correct decision has been made and I congratulate Minister Snowdon, Team Lambis and all involved whose steadfast resolve delivered this result.
“These men from that fateful battle have finally been honoured in the field; it’s now time to have their heroic deeds and memory properly honoured by the inscription of “FROMELLES” on the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney and other national and state memorials across the country.”
Theodore Arfaras, President, Association Des Anciens Combatants Francais (Association of French Veterans NSW), welcomed the news. “It is with emotion and pride that I have heared the news on the radio regarding the mass graves of Pheasant Woods in Fromelles.
It is justice that your heroes will be given, finally, the right to rest in peace, with full honours, in their individual graves, within the sacred soil of their forever country France. Lest we forget.”
The President of Recovery of Overseas Australian Missing (ROAM), Chris Bryett congratulated the Australian Government on making the right decision. “This is a great final salute to our fallen diggers. We are pleased that every endeavour is to be made to identify them and then give them a dignified reburial with their own headstone.” He noted that the announcement was consistent with The Defence Instructions (General) Missing In Action Presumed Killed: Recovery Of Human Remains Of Australian Defence Force Members and expected that the precedent of DNA testing used to identify several of the Zonnebeke Five would be used at Pheasant Wood. “Obviously the report containing the recommendations of the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD) advises that the recovery of the remains is feasible, and as forensic experts have indicated that DNA analysis combined with physical examination of the remains provides a reasonable chance for identification, we would expect that forensic testing would occur during mid next year” he said.
Photo: The GUARD Team on site at Pheasant Wood [Lambis Englezos]
The National President of the RSL, Major General Bill Crews AO assured that “all assistance will be given to ensure that the remains are appropriately treated, looked after and properly re-interred. We expect that they [the families] will get some degree of comfort out of this decision by the Government.”
He said it is “an appropriate way of honouring those who fell in the Battle of Fromelles”. He also told Nine News “The remains appear to be largely intact, however it will still be quite an effort to excavate all of the pits, to separate the remains and set them aside to make sure that the pits are completely clear before re-interment. This will take quite some months to do when it begins and be quite expensive, but it’s a cost worth paying.”
Photo: Fromelles Church Spire [Carole Laignel]
FROMELLES IS NOT HONOURED ON THE NATIONAL OR ANY STATE MEMORIAL IN AUSTRALIA.
FFFAIF SUPPORTS ALL EFFORTS TO RECOGNISE FROMELLES ON OR AT THE NATIONAL AND ALL STATE MEMORIALS THAT PRESENTLY LIST BATTLES BY NAME.
FFFAIF Policy Statement
The Families and Friends of the First AIF believes that the Australian Government through the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs should commit the to re-burial of the “missing of Fromelles” with individual graves and headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Pheasant Wood after DNA testing.