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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Even in death victims of Arras stayed side by side


margaretdufay

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Reading some of the stories about the finding of remains, reminded me of a story of a few years ago, sorry if it has mentioned before, I tried to find a thread on it , but was unable to do so, here is the link from the Telegraph newspaper

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1309293/Even-in-death-victims-of-Arras-stayed-side-by-side.html

hope it is of interest

mags

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Thanks for reminding us of this find, I remember seeing the photo in the Daily Mail and the story was well covered by the newspapers. The thought occurs to me that if DNA profiling was used at the time then perhaps some or all of these soldiers may have been accorded the dignity of a name. Perhaps other members will be able to add to this topic for I believe that the soldiers were buried as “Unknowns” bur exactly where I have no idea. It is a sad fact that the CWGC do not mention these burials on the War Cemetery database record so to all intents and purposes they never existed. An example of this is the large number of remains 60+ found near Boezinge, Flanders and interred in separate graves at Cement House War Cemetery. You would think that such a number of soldiers would at least merit a mention. Consider also what will happen in the future with mass finds such as those near Arras, for if the MOD are not prepared to use the latest techniques including DNA then all those finds will be buried as “Unknowns” and even the CWGC will ignore their passing.

The Boezinge soldiers in Cememt House - Grave photos by John Reed (GWF

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/sets/72157627891114130/with/6242922629/

Regards

Norman

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  • 6 months later...

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