MISSING Pte George Charles LILLY 3206 49th Battalion AIF

[gympiebrowns]

gday,

 

i am wanting to find my Great Great Uncle, what advice or direction can you offer for me in this matter:

 

Name: George Charles Lilly

Service Number: 3206

Rank: Private

Unit: 49th Battalion AIF

KIA 12/10/1917

 

he is commemorated in Menin Gate

 

i have both Autosomnal and Y DNA taken for matching if it ever got to that point, i would appreciate any advice or direction to proceed in, many thanks appreciate all the help, i would love to help with others at the same time, i am close to retirement and would love to do more on the investigation / recovery of our missing...

 

Steve (Browny)

[laughton]

A few things to get you started:

1. What have you gathered so far about the case of your Great Uncle?
   • Service Record?
   • War Diary Entries?
   • Battalion History?
   • Maps?
   • Where are the others of the 49th Battalion buried for that date and location?
   • Checks on cemeteries in the area where he was lost?
      
2. I have added him to the list on my blog as a "A Member is Looking For This Soldier"
   • Blog is here: https://www.greatwarforum.org/blogs/entry/1750-categories-of-the-unknown-cases/
   • that section is the last on on the page before the image of the headstone text

You should also know that Bec Linton @Becstar from Australia is doing a lot of work on this topic and could be of significant assistance as she is much more familiar with the Australian records than a Canadian.

 

The chances of finding an unknown Private are slim but one can never say it is impossible. You might only find that he is in one of five (5) graves and so you can visit them all or "adopt a grave". But you never know, you might start your hunt (which is very rewarding regardless of the outcome) and eight years later you might find him!

 

I have a list of the key men I have been looking for since I started this component of my "retirement project back in 2005. I really only started on the "Unknown Project" in the fall of 2014, while trying to help some people at a Legion Branch in Massey, Canada (see here on our Canadian site). I have never found, but in December 2019 I started to get close (see the last post in that topic). Since then, I have investigated hundreds of others and I do have a "short list" of men that I am trying to find, rather than investigating them because I see some clues. There is a big difference between those two approaches. It took four (4) years to find Private John Montanelli but I did finally find him, more by "accident and good luck" but you have to be persistent (see the solution here).

 

Best Regards from Canada,

Richard