PASSCHENDAELE REFLECTIONS
‘My first instinct was to touch each of them’
“When we first walked in I just wanted to put my arms around all of them,” said Rosemary Sheehan after she attended a funeral parlour to view the dressed coffins of five World War I Australian soldiers on the eve of their re-interment.
The coffins were resplendent in the Australian flag, on top of which sat a slouch hat, a bayonet and WWI medals.
Mrs Sheehan, of Cardiff, Wales, and her sister, Adrienne Adrienne Verco, of Brisbane, are representing the families of the three unknown soldiers whose remains will be re-interred.
Their grandmother’s brother, Sergeant Colin McArthur, is listed among the 15,000 Australians who died in the Great War and have no known graves. He was killed in action in Belgium on 1 October 1917.
“When I saw the three coffins my first instinct was to touch each of them. I thought that they’re unknown, but not alone,” Mrs Sheehan said.
The families of the two identified soldiers took the opportunity to see the well-presented coffins of their relatives, who are no longer lost to history.
It was an emotional moment for Mollie Millis, of Brisbane, as one coffin contained the remains of her uncle, Private John Hunter, of the 49th Australian Infantry Battalion.
“I felt that all my life I’ve waited and now to meet him there was really upsetting. I felt for my mother and her sisters. We used to hear these stories about what he did and the things they did as kids,” Mrs Millis said.
Her cousin, Jim Hunter, of Ipswich, said he felt sad for the life his uncle missed.
“He would have had a good life if he had got back from the war – he had cattle, property, race horses and the whole thing,” Mr Hunter said. “He was far too young to die – that was one line I wrote in a poem about him.”
Sisters Anne Morrison and Sue Moore, of Melbourne, were also touched by the occasion and appreciated the efforts the Australian Army had made on behalf of the dead Diggers and their families.
“The coffin was dressed beautifully. It was very moving,” Mrs Moore said.
The re-interment of the five sets of remains will occur at Buttes New British Cemetery at Polygon Wood on 4 October in the presence of Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery and officials from the New Zealand and Belgian Governments.
View Gallery Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium