BRITAIN AT WAR


WHO WERE THESE MEN?


At the beginning of March 2010, it was announced that a joint British/Australian Identification Board had begun reviewing the information known about each of the sets of recovered remains. This data included anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information.


Just ten days after this announcement, on 18 March, the Identification Board confirmed that it had identified by name no less than seventy-five of the men. All had served with the Australian Army. A further 128 soldiers were also listed as having been with the Australian Army, though there was insufficient evidence to name them. Just three of the soldiers were confirmed as being British – but again they were unnamed. As there were no clues to the identity of the remaining forty-four men they remained “Known unto God”.


The work of naming the soldiers continued and a second Identification Board was convened in May 2010. Following its review of any new evidence, a further nineteen men were named. Once again, they were all members of the Australian Imperial Force.


This now brought the total number of soldiers identified as having served with the AIF to 205, 111 of these men presently only identified by their force. The number of British soldiers identified by their force


remained unchanged at three, with forty- two soldiers remaining “Known unto God”. At the same time, it was confirmed that further boards would be conducted between 2011 and 2014.


Then, just twelve days before the 94th anniversary of the attack at Fromelles, along with the dedication of the new cemetery and the burial of the 250th soldier, came the news that two more men had been identified. The announcement, made by Alan Griffin, the Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, identified the pair.


North Sydney-born 35-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Ignatius Bertram Norris had served with the 53rd Battalion, 14th Brigade, whilst Private Harold Charles Pitt, from the 32nd Battalion, 8th Brigade, had been born in Magill, South Australia. To date, Lieutenant Colonel Norris is the highest ranking soldier to have been identified amongst the men recovered at Fromelles.


“An extraordinary Joint Identification


ABOVE LEFT:


A gardener prunes a box hedge in front of the Cross of Sacrifice at Fromelles – an example of the attention to detail which has become the standard for those cemeteries around the world maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The contract for the main construction work at the cemetery at Fromelles, the CWGC’s first since the Second World War, was awarded to the Belgium firm Beton-Bouw Bentein. Formed in 1921, this company had worked with the Commission between the two world wars. (Courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)


ABOVE:


The identity disc worn by Private Douglas Caswell, 30th Battalion AIF, which was returned to his parents almost a year after he was killed at Fromelles. As his body has never been recovered or, if it has, identified, Caswell is currently commemorated at V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial. (Courtesy of the Caswell family)


LEFT:


Private 3168 Stanley Clingan who was killed, aged 22, on 19 July 1916. His remains have been laid to rest in Grave E8, Plot III, at Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. (Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)


AUGUST 2010


31


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