Human remains found in a plastic bag in Villers Plouich April 2012

[margaretdufay]

While following some of the recent threads about remains being found, I came across these two articles from the voix du Nord, don't know if they have already been posted.

mags

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/des-restes-humains-decouverts-dans-un-sac-plastique-a-villers-plouich-ia27b0n378635

Thursday morning a crane operator who was doing some work on the cemetery in Villers Plouich unburied a plastic bag containing human remains. These would old remains, which had been removed from a previous location. They have been handed over to the criminal investigation services who will procede with more investigations.

and a more recent one

of

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/villers-plouich-on-a-presque-identifie-les-ossements-jna13b0n561470

Villers Plouich, the human remains, found in a plastic bag, have practically been identified.

In the sanctuary of the Commonwealth in Beaurains (Pas de Calais).

That's where for the time time being, have been stored the human remains found in a plastic bag at the beginning of April, during digging work in the cemetery of Villers Plouich, in the canton of Marcoing. The Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale, located near Paris, carried out analyses which have enabled them to date approximately the death, but also the sex and height of the person, whose remains were discovered. They are of a man, measuring on average 1m 60 (the Institut said that it could be a margin of more or less five cts) who died between 80 or 150 years ago.

The pair of tattered shoes, also discovered in the bag amongst the human remains have been identified. The resemblance to the boots worn by British soldiers during the First World War also matches the picture. it is thus that of an English soldier who died during the Great War. Local historian and "living memory of the passage of the British armies in the Cambrai area, Philippe Gorczynski, has been requested by the Gendarmes of Marcoing, led by Lieutenant Deroode, to cast his expert eye over these tattered shoes. The analysis of sewing, stitching and nailing, the nail confirms that we are dealing with a British soldier, says Philippe Gorczynski.

Report transmitted to the British authorities.

The human remains have therefore been handed over to the Commonwealth at Beaurains, where an officier responsible for exhumation is going to write a report informing the discovery, says Nelly Poignonnec, member of the organisation. This report will be transmitted to the British authorities, who depending on the evidence, will decide or not to pursue the research in view of identifying the soldier. Either the soldier will be buried in a named grave or he will join the ranks of the unnamed soldiers. Whatever the outcome is our objective says Nelly Poignonnec, is to pay tribute to the remains on the occasion of a burial according to the rulebook. Obviously, naming the deceased remains a more difficult affair. the remains being found in a transparent bag of agricultural fertilizer bearing the inscription 1982. One of the theories suggested is that the remains were taken to the cemetery and buried in a piece of land not being used at that moment.

The exact location where the body was first discovered remains a mystery, whereas this information would have been precious to define the battle during which the soldier died. it would have been interesting to speak to the person who first discovered him. remarks Philippe Gorczynski.

Yesterday, the mayor of Villers Plouich Raymond Machut ensured that no one had come forward since this remarkable find. Despite these difficulties, the local historian determines three episodes in which the soldier could have been killed, either during the Battle of Cambrai, either in March-April 1917 or during an attack in September and October 1918

MR

[trajan]

Many years ago, working on a Roman temple site in the UK that was being badly damaged by treasure hunters, I found a human skellie bundled up in a plastic mac! The condition of the bones clearly indicated a Roman date as we had lots of other Roman-period skellies to compare them with on the same site. Chats with villagers in the nearby pub eventually established that a treasure hunter from the same village had found the skellie while robbing the site some five years previously, took it home, and then became worried that he would be haunted by the ghost of the dead Roman and so reburied them on the site... Something similar might well explain your human bones in a 1982 fertiliser bag, although perhaps more likely that somebody having found the bones didn't want to be bothered with the 'authorities' and so disposed of them. Either way, the sad thing is, of course, that this probably means all hope of accurately identifying this poor unfortunate has been lost forever.

Trajan

Trajan

[egbert]

Thanks for posting the translation

[spconnolly007]

Thanks for posting, and translation mags. Regards Sean

[Duiker]

A little respect for a found body is not strange.

And the authorities will really not difficult to do if you find a body.

But I find this odd behavior of the Finder.

Anton

[Doc2]

Not too unusual--- There are numerous instances of a single body being found in a construction site or on a farm which is not then turned in to the authorities-- You hear about several of these every year. Why? Because in too many cases, once a body is discovered there is an archeological "hold" put on the site, pending full evaluation, which may take years, during which time the field, construction site, or whatever may not be used. Rather than being deprived of the use of their property, the finders may rebury the remains in an "out of the way" spot and proceed about their business. Too bad, but it makes rational sense to me, from the property owner's viewpoint, though of course not from that of the preservationists.

[JimSmithson]

though of course not from that of the preservationists.

Nor that of relatives who, had the remains being left 'in situ', had a better chance of being identified.