{"id":559,"date":"2008-07-14T09:32:38","date_gmt":"2008-07-13T22:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=559"},"modified":"2008-07-14T09:32:38","modified_gmt":"2008-07-13T22:32:38","slug":"dignity-for-diggers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=559","title":{"rendered":"Dignity for Diggers 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s, John Laffin Memorial Lecture, held annually on or near the anniversary of the Battle of Hamel – 4 July 1918,\u00a0held at Ashfield RSL, Sydney, focused on the 90th<\/sup> anniversary of the Battle of Mount St Quentin and the recent archeological excavations for the missing diggers from the Battle of Fromelles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo<\/strong>: Archaeologists begin work at Pheasant Wood<\/p>\n

Around seventy Families and Friends of the First AIF members and their guests heard speakers Ross St Claire, Chris Bryett, Lambis Englezos and Tim Whitford, and a press conference was held along with a popular \u2018show & tell’ session. Details will be featured on the website in the near future.<\/p>\n

Tim Whitford described his experiences in seeing the pits at Pheasant Wood and elaborated on his thought provoking article published in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald. \u00a0Readers are encouraged to provide feedback<\/strong> to the SMH by email to readerlink@smh.com.au<\/a> or Fax 92823253 or Phone 92821569<\/p>\n

Give the Fromelles diggers their dignity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am the great nephew of Private Harry Willis. I grew up with stories about him. He was a good-looking boy, under-aged when he enlisted. He was killed in his first battle, disappearing forever. Well, not forever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo<\/strong>: Private Harry Willis [Tim Whitford]<\/p>\n

Now we know where Harry is. Thanks to the amazing detective work of an amateur historian from Melbourne, and a whole lot of dedication from historians, soldiers, archaeologists, defence civilians and politicians, a dig has confirmed Harry is buried in one of eight unmarked pits in the shadow of Pheasant Wood at Fromelles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Photo<\/strong>: Pheasant Wood \u2018Dig\u2019, May 2008.<\/p>\n

Harry has been there ever since the Germans tossed in his body and covered it with clay after he was killed in battle in July 1916. His mother never knew that, nor did his brothers or sisters, nor his nephews or nieces down through the generations. He has never been forgotten. But there\u2019s a big chance that Harry might remain anonymous and missing, through a lack of imagination and uninformed sentiment.<\/p>\n

There are those who have called for the Fromelles diggers to be \u201cleft in peace with their mates\u201d. All I can say to those who are calling for anything less than a complete exhumation, processing and reburial on-site is that, if they had seen what I saw during the dig, I know they would change their minds.<\/p>\n

Let me illustrate it for you. It\u2019s not a pretty picture. In pit numbers one, two and three, the soldiers have been laid out in rows, similar to sardines in a can. There appear to be multiple layers of our men in each of these pits and they might have been buried with some care.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo<\/strong>: Germans burying allied soldiers in pit. (Vimy 1917)<\/p>\n

(www.stahlgewitter.com<\/span><\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s go to pits four and five. Our men have been thrown in like yesterday\u2019s rubbish. There\u2019s a digger slumped in a sitting position with his handless arms raised above his head. Another is in a semi-foetal position with a man tossed over his chest. One man has the remnants of the telephone wire the German troops used to drag him into the pit still wrapped around his limbs. Another still wears the tourniquet some friend attached in a vain attempt to save his life. In pits four and five there are no neat rows, no order, and no dignity in death for the diggers. They are a sight of abject horror and it would be nothing less than a travesty to leave these fine men like that.<\/p>\n

Many of the injuries sustained by these men are distinct and will, in many cases, have been recorded in the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files by their friends. This information can be of great assistance in identification. Without professing to be a qualified archaeologist or forensic scientist, I can confidently say that the remains are in excellent condition. Each man is readily discernible having been locked in place by the glutinous and oxygen-free blue Flanders clay. Each set of remains is frozen in the final pose in which the man was thrown into the pit and tells its own very moving story.<\/p>\n

Copious amounts of chloride of lime is evident in all the pits. After speaking with members of the archaeological team at the site, I was informed that many of the preconceptions about lime being destructive to human tissue and bone are totally false and, in fact, in some cases lime may assist preservation.<\/p>\n

The German troops who buried our boys at Pheasant Wood recorded their names and sent their identity discs back to the families in Australia through the Red Cross. They may have thrown many of our lads in holes like rotting silage but they had the decency to tell us they had done it and whom they\u2019d done it to. I don\u2019t blame them. They had an abhorrent job to do. Many of the diggers had been in the sun for days and were well on the way to putrefaction. I was a soldier once and couldn\u2019t think of a more unpleasant job, especially considering that they also had to care for their own dead and wounded.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo<\/strong>: German \u2018death voucher\u2019<\/p>\n

As a result of the Bavarian regiment\u2019s very efficient paperwork, we know who these men are. These men aren\u2019t in a sunken ship kilometres below the ocean surface impossible to get to; they are just a metre under the ground in a friendly country. They are close enough to reach out and touch.<\/p>\n

Leaving these men in this horrific way is just plain wrong. I understand the wonderful sentiment of some descendants and the national executive of the RSL to say \u201cleave these men with their mates in peace\u201d but it\u2019s uninformed sentiment. There is no peace and certainly no dignity in leaving heroes the way they\u2019ve been discarded. The last person to handle the Fromelles diggers shouldn\u2019t be a German if we have the ability for it to be an Australian.<\/p>\n

By simply covering them and placing a memorial on the site, we will deny our diggers any chance of regaining their identity and individuality. We may not be able to give all of them their names back but we can bloody well try. I agree wholeheartedly that they should remain at Pheasant Wood in the long term. It\u2019s a beautiful location, inexorably linked to them, and they will be in the care of a village that knows their sacrifice and loves them.<\/p>\n

They should finish their journey with their mates who fought and died with them, but they should not remain there without being granted the basic right of an attempt at individual identification, a soldier\u2019s funeral, and an individual grave. Every other Australian soldier found since the end of World War I has been afforded these basics, why change now? Is it because more years have elapsed? Is it the money? I\u2019d hate to think our war dead were inconvenient.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo: <\/strong>31st <\/sup>Battalion Headstones at Rue Petillon Cemetery with Alexandra and Elizabeth Whitford [Tim Whitford]<\/p>\n

Take the opportunity to express your opinion<\/strong> – readers are encouraged to provide feedback to the SMH by email to readerlink@smh.com.au<\/a> or Fax 92823253or Phone 92821569<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

FFFAIF Policy Statement<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The Families and Friends of the First AIF believes that the Australian Government through the Minister for Veterans\u2019 Affairs should commit the to re-burial of the \u201cmissing of Fromelles\u201d with individual graves and headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Pheasant Wood after DNA testing.<\/p>\n

FROMELLES<\/strong> IS NOT HONOURED ON THE NATIONAL OR ANY STATE MEMORIAL IN AUSTRALIA.<\/span><\/p>\n

FFFAIF<\/strong> SUPPORTS ALL EFFORTS TO RECOGNISE FROMELLES<\/strong> ON OR AT THE NATIONAL AND ALL STATE MEMORIALS THAT PRESENTLY LIST BATTLES BY NAME.<\/span><\/p>\n

Call\u00a0back tomorrow for MORE UPDATES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s, John Laffin Memorial Lecture, held annually on or near the anniversary of the Battle of Hamel – 4 July 1918,\u00a0held at Ashfield RSL, Sydney, focused on the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Mount St Quentin and the recent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diggers-of-first-aif","category-top-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}