{"id":8379,"date":"2010-04-14T01:26:11","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T14:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=8379"},"modified":"2010-04-14T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T14:26:11","slug":"fromelles-ids-graves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=8379","title":{"rendered":"Fromelles' IDs & graves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fromelles Cemetery Layout, Photos and Updates\u00a031 March 2010
\n<\/strong>The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Remembering Fromelles <\/em><\/strong>website and\u00a0the Australian Army Fromelles Project Group (AFPG) website have both been updated following the release of the names of the soldiers identified as being buried by the German Army near Pheasant Wood following the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. RECENT NEWS Item: Fromelles layout, photos<\/a><\/em><\/strong> provides links to updated photos and the layout of the new CWGC\u00a0Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery showing the burial positions\u00a0for\u00a0the named and un-named Australians, un-named British and remaining unidentified soldiers.\u00a0 Some analysis is included and the benefits of collecting additional DNA samples from relatives are highlighted.<\/p>\n

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Photo<\/strong>: Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery – turf in front of Plot I, 9 March 2010 [CWGC]<\/p>\n

List of Soldiers’ names released Wednesday 17 March:\u00a0
\nMedia reports updated as at Wednesday\u00a031 March<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Families of soldiers whose remains were recovered from the burial pits at Pheasant Wood and whose identities have been established by the Fromelles Joint Identification Board have been receiving phone advice with written advice\u00a0being provided by mail as confirmation. From the 250 sets of remains recovered, 203 have been identified as Australians, 3 as British and\u00a044 cannot currently be attributed to either Army.\u00a0 Of the 203 Australians, 75 of these have been positively identified by name. A media report indicates that “Viable DNA has been obtained from all but about six sets of remains, with testing on samples to continue until 2014.”\u00a0The list of the soldiers whose identities have been confirmed was\u00a0released on Wednesday 17 March.
\nSee RECENT NEWS Item:\u00a0Fromelles list of names<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>for the Ministerial Release and links to the list of Australian soldiers names.
\nSee RECENT NEWS Item: Fromelles ID profiles<\/a><\/em><\/strong> for information on some of the identified\u00a0soldiers Updated –\u00a0with\u00a0more soldier stories and linked to media<\/strong>.\u00a0
\nSee RECENT NEWS Item: 75 Fromelles\u00a0identities<\/a><\/em><\/strong> to see more details of events leading up to the release of the list.
\nSee RECENT NEWS Item:\u00a0Fromelles Media #3<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to see\u00a0links to media reports. Updated to\u00a031 March and linked to Fromelles ID profiles<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. Media reports indicate that the number of relatives confirming they will attend the 94th anniversary ceremony in France in July has\u00a0risen to more than 1200.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of those soldiers whose identity has been confirmed is 1682 Private Harold John BOURKE<\/strong>, 30th<\/sup> Battalion.\u00a0Read\u00a0his and the stories of other soldiers who have had their identities returned in RECENT NEWS Item: Fromelles ID profiles<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo:<\/strong>\u00a01682 Private Harold John BOURKE<\/strong>, 30th<\/sup> Battalion\u00a0[AWM]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The President of the Families and Friends of the First AIF, Mr Russell Curley welcomed the notification of families and the impending release of the list of soldiers identified:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is great news. Our thanks go to all who have worked so long and hard to achieve this result.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If what has been reported is correct, the families of at least 75 of the Diggers from Pheasant Wood will gain closure and their mystery is solved. More importantly, these 75 Diggers have had their identities restored and each can now rest in peace, finally, in a grave beneath a headstone engraved with his name.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Hopefully, there will be many more soldiers\u2019 identities established in the future. We would like to see whether, for the small number of soldiers where viable DNA has not been able to be extracted by LGC Forensics, other world class laboratories are able to establish a DNA profile in the short term.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“In a joint statement yesterday, Minister Alan Griffin (Veterans\u2019 Affairs) and Senator Nick Sherry (Assistant Treasurer) announced the issue of a new 20 cent coin to commemorate the Lost Diggers of Fromelles. This is some way towards proper recognition from the Commonwealth for the sacrifices these men made at Fromelles; if we could get the National and State Memorials to honour FROMELLES by inscription, then that recognition would be complete.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

New 2 March
\n<\/strong>The Joint Identification Board, co-chaired by Major General Mike O’Brien from the Australian Army, and Air Commodore Chris Bray from the Royal Air Force convened on 1 March 2010 at Australia House, London to\u00a0try to identify as many of the 250 soldiers whose remains have been recovered from the burial pits at Pheasant Wood and have been re-buried in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. The Board\u00a0will end on March 12 but is likely to meet again in late April or early May to consider any further evidence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See RECENT NEWS Item Fromelles ID Board meets<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Photo:<\/strong> Major General Mike O’Brien, Co-chair of the Fromelles Joint Identification Board [Chris Munro]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Updated Monday 22 February<\/strong>
\nMajor General Mike O’Brien has indicated that the\u00a0first group of Australian soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles and buried by the Germans at Pheasant Wood will be identified by Anzac Day.\u00a0 Follow the links in RECENT NEWS Items:\u00a0\u00a0Fromelles re-burials<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or Fromelles Media #2<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fromelles Cemetery Layout, Photos and Updates\u00a031 March 2010 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Remembering Fromelles website and\u00a0the Australian Army Fromelles Project Group (AFPG) website have both been updated following the release of the names of the soldiers identified as being … 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":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8379","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=8379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}