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<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nPhoto: <\/strong>Private Arthur Momplhait [AWM H06484] Alfred Victor Momplhait<\/strong> was a 28 year old clerk from Port Adelaide, South Australia when he enlisted on 17 July 1915, a year and 2 days later he was counted amongst the 5,533 Australian casualties from the Battle of Fromelles. Private Momplhait embarked from Adelaide aboard HMAT Benalla<\/em> on 27 October 1915, as a member of the 11th<\/sup> Reinforcements, 10th<\/sup> Battalion. The arrival of the reinforcements would have coincided with the return of the 10th<\/sup> Battalion from the Gallipoli campaign. On returning to camp in Egypt the AIF was to double its size. The 10th<\/sup> Battalion was split to form the 10th<\/sup> and 50th<\/sup> Battalion. Private Momlphait was taken on strength with the 50th<\/sup> Battalion on 29th<\/sup> January 1916. He remained with the 50th<\/sup> Battalion for two weeks before being transferred to the 32nd<\/sup> Battalion.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n English born Bertie Greenfield<\/strong> had been in Australia for seven years when he enlisted in the 32nd Battalion Perth on 19th<\/sup> July 1915, 2 days after Alfred Victor Momplhait enlisted in Adelaide.\u00a0 The 32nd Battalion had been raised on the outskirts of Adelaide, during August 1915 and had men from both South Australia and Western Australia. Private Bertie Greenfield travelled from camp in Perth to Adelaide and was a member of \u2018D’ Company, 32nd<\/sup> Battalion aboard HMAT Geelong<\/em> when it sailed from Adelaide on 18 November 1915.<\/p>\n One year and one day later he was also counted amongst the 5,533 casualties from the Battle of Fromelles.<\/p>\n Photo: <\/strong>Private Bertie Greenfield \u00a0[AWM P03483.021] The 32nd<\/sup> Battalion along with the 29th<\/sup> Battalion from Victoria, the 30th<\/sup> Battalion from New South Wales and the 31st<\/sup> Battalion from Victoria & Queensland formed the 8th<\/sup> Brigade. The Australian War Memorial states: The 8th Brigade joined the newly raised 5th Australian Division in Egypt, and proceeded to France, destined for the Western Front, in June 1916. The 32nd Battalion fought its first major battle at Fromelles on 19 July 1916, having only entered the front-line trenches 3 days previously. The attack was a disastrous introduction to battle for the 32nd – it suffered 718 casualties, almost 75 per cent of the battalion’s total strength, but closer to 90 per cent of its actual fighting strength. Although it still spent periods in the front line, the 32nd played no major offensive role for the rest of the year.<\/em><\/p>\n Private Alfred Momplhait had been in the front line for even a shorter period of time, as he only returned to duty on the 18th<\/sup> July after spending 10 days with the 8th<\/sup> Field Ambulance suffering from dysentery. The 8th<\/sup> Brigade began its attack when it went over the top at 5:53pm. 197 men from the 32nd<\/sup> Battalion were killed in the Battle of Fromelles including Private Alfred Momplhait and Private Bertie Greenfield, both are amongst the \u2018missing of Fromelles’.<\/p>\n Private Alfred Momplhait’s service record, available on line at the National Archives of Australia<\/a>,\u00a0shows he was killed in action on 19th<\/sup> July 1916. The commanding officer of 32nd<\/sup> Battalion had reported Alfred’s death two days after the battle. Private Momplhait’s next of kin, his elder brother Arthur Momplhait, would have been notified of his fate. A year later Arthur, a 32 year old widower, enlisted in the AIF as member of the Field Artillery. \u00a0Private Arthur Momplhait returned to Australia in June 1919. \u00a0<\/p>\n The family of Private Bertie Greenfield did not know the fate of their son until much later. \u00a0Bertie’s service record states he was reported as missing on 20th<\/sup> July 1916 and his name appeared on the Prisoner of War German List dated 4 November 1916, noted as DEAD, and later an official enquiry in March 1917 advised that he was to be reported as Killed In Action on 20th<\/sup> July 1916. His Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau File<\/em> <\/em><\/a>contains an entry <\/em>describing where he was last seen …..on the German parapet. He was groaning and seriously wounded. He was seen when retiring but it was impossible to bring him in.<\/em><\/p>\n Greenfield family, in England, heard unofficial reports that their son had been taken prisoner and appealed to the Red Cross for information long after being notified of his death. In April 1919, two years after receiving the official notification of his death, the Red Cross wrote to Mrs E. Greenfield saying: We greatly fear the official report that he was killed in action is correct.<\/em><\/p>\n Photo<\/strong>: The body of an Australian soldier killed in German lines during the Battle of Fromelles. [AWM A01566] Both Private Momplhait’s and Private Greenfield’s identity discs were returned by the Royal Prussian War Office to the Australian Army through the Red Cross. Copies of both men’s \u2018Death Vouchers’ appear in their\u00a0 Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau File<\/em> <\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/em> It was from within these files that Lambis Englezos gathered information to name compile the names of the 175 buried by the German army after the Battle of Fromelles.<\/p>\n The Australian soldiers were taken to the field adjacent to Pheasant Wood where they were placed in pits and lay undetected for nearly 92 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Australian Army last year commissioned Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD) to undertake non-invasive surveys to assess the likelihood of burials having taken place at Pheasant Wood, and whether the ground had been disturbed by subsequent recovery.\u00a0 This year’s excavations have confirmed the presence of a significant number of human remains, consistent with the German accounts of the burials of Australian and British soldiers in the pits at Pheasant Wood.<\/p>\n The next stage is for the Australian Government to consider the preliminary report prepared by GUARD containing the recommendations in the context of the The Defence Instructions (General) Missing In Action Presumed Killed: Recovery Of Human Remains Of Australian Defence Force Members<\/em>.<\/p>\n It is Australian Government policy, where human remains are reported to the ADF and those remains are verified to be those of ADF members serving during World War I and listed as missing in action, presumed killed, the remains are to be buried in the nearest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery to the place of death.<\/p>\n In regard to Fromelles, the Australian Army is the investigating authority and the Defence Instruction <\/em>sets out its responsibilities to “assess the feasibility of successfully recovering any remains given the information provided, the size of the area to be searched, sensitivity to local issues (for example the need to disturb other grave sites in order to recover unknown remains) and the reliability of the informant.”<\/span><\/p>\n If the preliminary report containing the recommendations of the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department (GUARD), recommends that the recovery of the remains is feasible, The Australian Army, as the investigating authority, is required by the Defence General Instructions 14 to “liaise with the Surgeon General ADF … for provision of forensic experts.”<\/span><\/p>\n The Office of Australian War Graves is to advise of the appropriate Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in which the remains should be interred.<\/p>\n \u00a0In the case of the men buried in Pheasant Wood, the nearest open Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery may not have the capacity to include up to 400 new burials, which may result in the men being separated. As Madame Demassiet has indicated her intent to gift the Pheasant Wood land for the purposes of a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, this will be the most likely site. Following the recent closure service at the end of the excavations, the Pheasant Wood site has been secured and returned to its previous condition and the commemorative tablet has been placed on the site.<\/p>\n Photo<\/strong>: Carole Laignel, Secretary of Fromelles Museum at Pheasant Wood, 15\/07\/2008. [Carole Laignel]<\/p>\n \u00a0 Photo<\/strong>: Commemorative Plaque, Pheasant Wood. [Carole Laignel]<\/p>\n Where remains are identified as belonging to an ADF member, funeral arrangements are to be in accordance with normal military procedures<\/span>…. and where next of kin can be contacted, the Australian Army is to notify the next of kin of the circumstances surrounding the finding of the remains and a funeral arrangements being undertaken.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 A resolution, overwhelmingly carried by the Ashfield RSL Sub-branch in Sydney, records that it is: “Further<\/strong> that all Diggers’ remains buried by the enemy in the pits at Pheasant Wood, as determined during the limited excavation in May-June this year, must be exhumed, separated, identified where possible and given the honour of a decent individual reburial beneath individual headstones, either identified by name or as \u2018Known unto God’, in accordance with the obligation the Australian Army has under Defence Instruction (General PERS\u00a054\u00a0– 4 Missing-In-Action presumed killed: recovery of human remains of Australian Defence Force Members) to collect and rebury the remains in a cemetery.<\/span><\/p>\n “Furthermore <\/strong>that the NSW Branch of the RSL requests National Executive to reconsider its position in view of the fact that the Diggers, especially in pits 4 & 5, in the words of ex-Digger Tim Whitford, one of the few unofficial visitors permitted to inspect the site: “They were slung in like yesterday’s rubbish. They’re not at peace<\/strong>.”<\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/strong><\/em> 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0FROMELLES<\/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 \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alfred Momplhait and later, his elder brother Arthur both volunteered for service with the AIF, but only one was to return to Australia to resume the lives which they had abandoned to answer the call of duty to the Empire. … Continue reading
\nThis photo has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian War Memorial<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fffaif.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/greenfield_-bertie_pte_sml.jpg\")
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\nThis photo has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian War Memorial<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis photo has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian War Memorial<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>“totally opposed to the view expressed by the National Executive as stated in the NSW State President’s Report in Reveille<\/em> Vol 81 No 4 under the heading \u2018Fromelles’, which states \u2018that those buried there remain where they are and a new memorial be established in the site’.<\/span><\/p>\n