Defence

Army

Chief of Army attends funeral service

On 22 April 2005, the remains of four World War One Australian Imperial Forces soldiers were re-interred in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Northern France. The funeral service was attended by the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, the Australian Ambassador to France, Her Excellency Ms Penny Wensley, representatives of the French Government and the French Military, Defence representatives from Commonwealth nations, local dignitaries and Australian service personnel serving in Europe.

In March 2003 a farmer near Merris, France, discovered the skeletal remains of four unknown Australian Imperial Force soldiers buried in a communal grave. Artefacts found with the remains included Australian pennies, Australian Imperial Forces 'Rising Sun' collar badges and a corroded officers 'pip' with a fragment of uniform with the clips for attaching the 'pip' in place. After historical research and forensic investigation in France and Australia, two of the four soldiers are believed to be Lieutenant Christopher Henry Duncan Champion and 5665 Corporal Ernest Corby. The other two soldiers have not been identified and were buried as unknown Australian soldiers of the Great War.

French authorities notified the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that a war grave had been discovered. After investigation, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission advised the Australian Embassy in France and the Office of Australian War Graves that the remains had been identified as being those of Australian soldiers.

The Australian Office of War Graves employed an historian to research Australian casualties killed near Merris. The search was extensive and used a range of sources. These included, but were not confined to Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing and Enquiry Bureau fi les, the soldiers' personal service dossiers, the official unit war diaries, published and unpublished unit histories, and C.E.W. Bean's histories of Australians in the First World War. Based on the indication that one of the casualties was an officer, a range of possible candidates was identified in the detailed historical report. Unfortunately, the evidence was not conclusive enough to enable positive identification, although 'likely' candidates were identified.

The Australian Embassy in France commissioned a French forensic pathologist to examine the remains, and these results were referred to the Department of Anatomy and Histology, in the University of Sydney for further assessment. From the analysis of the lengths of the femora, estimates of the stature of the soldiers could be determined. This enabled the elimination of some of the possible candidates (the height of Australian soldiers was recorded at the time of their enlistment).

From the forensic investigation and the detailed historical research, the Office of Australian War Graves are reasonably assured that the remains may be identified as including those of LT Champion and CPL Corby. The other two sets of remains could not be identified with any certainty.

The ADF retains responsibility for the recovery of the human remains of ADF members killed in conflict. Where the remains are identified as being those of a member of a specific Service, that Service then assumes responsibility for the remains. Once remains have been identified as those of an ADF member, the Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG), Department of Veterans' Affairs, liaise with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and advise the appropriate cemetery in which the remains should be interred.

During World War 1, the Imperial War Graves Commission (now known as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) was established to record and mark the graves of the Empire's war dead. The Australian Government, acting in conjunction with other British Commonwealth Nations, instituted a policy that prohibited the repatriation of the remains of Commonwealth military members to their homeland. The Commonwealth Nations further agreed that military personnel killed in war would be buried in the nearest War Graves Commission Cemetery to the place of death. Following World War II the Commonwealth Nations - which includes the Australian Government - reaffirmed the policy, which remains extant.

The service of reinterment saw these four Australian soldiers laid to rest at the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul - close by where their remains were discovered. They were laid in adjoining graves, in a special row prepared by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the World War One section of the cemetery. The Canberra State Branch of the Returned and Services League provided the Army with poppies, which were placed on every Australian grave, ensuring that all Australians laid to rest in Outtersteene will also be remembered and included in the service.

Army wishes to thank the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Office of Australian War Graves for their assistance in honouring these fallen Australian soldiers.

MAJ Toni Duffield

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