WWI Diggers reburial 'an overdue honour'

The reburial of 250 World War One Australian and British soldiers unearthed from a
mass grave in France is proving to be a small but important gesture for their
descendants.

The long-awaited reinterment of the soldiers, whose whereabouts were a mystery for
decades after they were killed near the rural town of Fromelles in 1916, was due to
begin on Saturday night (EDS: 2100 AEDT) with hundreds of people expected to descend
on the village for a special ceremony marking the event.
For Victorian Tim Whitford, who helped in the search for the soldiers and whose
great uncle Private Henry "Harry" Willis could be among the 250, the reburial
process brings an "overdue honour" to the men who lay in an unmarked and unknown
grave for 94 years.
"Perhaps just as importantly it honours those poor weeping mothers who had to endure
the unendurable - the not knowing, for so long until they too died, never knowing
where their sons were," Mr Whitford told AAP.
"It's better late than never I suppose, and perhaps it's just a gesture, but even in
these modern, more cynical times, some of us think that a gesture is very important.
"It says so much about the values people and nations hold dear."
Mr Whitford has spent the past three decades searching for his lost uncle Harry and
made several trips from his home in Tullarook to Fromelles in an attempt to find the
mass grave.
He joined forces a few years ago with Melbourne schoolteacher Lambis Englezos who
pinpointed the exact spot of the grave, which was originally dug by German troops
but left unmarked.
Their research led to a limited excavation of a field bordering a wood on the
outskirts of Fromelles in 2008, when archaeologists confirmed there were a series of
muddy pits containing bodies.
Both Mr Whitford and Mr Englezos were unable to attend the start of the reburials
but plan to return to Fromelles in July when a major commemorative event will be
held to open the town's new military cemetery where the soldiers are being laid to
rest.
Meanwhile, the pair are anxiously awaiting the results of DNA tests being carried
out on the soldiers' bodies and their surviving descendants in an attempt to
identify as many as possible.
Mr Whitford, who found a medallion belonging to his uncle Harry lying in the ground
above where the mass grave was discovered, is hoping for a positive match.
His grandmother Marjorie Whitford, who was Harry's niece, has provided a DNA sample
in the hope their family can finally solve the mystery of what happened to him
during the Great War.
"I recently went into the old folks home where she lives and she was introducing me
to everyone and telling them about uncle Harry and she grabbed hold of my arm and
said, `He's not going to give up until he finds him'," Mr Whitford said.
"It was her that started it with me.
"When I was a little boy, she sat me down on her knee and asked me what I wanted to do.
"I said I wanted to be a soldier and her mood changed and the colour drained from
her face and she told me about Harry. That's what set me off looking for him."