Fromelles - WWI soldiers to be exhumed from mass graves

Thank you ... that was really nice of you !!

I have no idea why he'd be facing the other way ! .... do you mean other Munster Fusiliers ?

 

Most of the soldiers in the 2nd battalion died the day after .... on the 9th May 1915 .... and they were commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial !!

I'll have to find out more about the Sergeant ! .... I'll have to go through my stuff !!

 

Ah Passchendaele ! ...... in hindsight - he was lucky to be wounded ... don't you think ??

 

I learned a lot about Royal Muster men on the trip.

This is why he is facing the other way. A very sad story.

 

Le Touret.....truly one of the most beautiful memorials I've seen.

 

That is sad ! ..... especially when they had his remains in the beginning !

 

Andy !! ... you were right .... I just found this .......

I can't believe it !!

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2009/04/23/aussie-who-found-wwi-mass-grave-banned/

 

Annie,

it is not the same field but I do not yet know about the owner, I will ask to the friends of fromelles on may 9th.

You can see the picture of the future cemetery realised by CWGC, so realist...!

http://www.cwgc.org/fromelles/

Michel

 

Our friend Pierre took photographs of Fromelles ....

http://pierreswesternfront.punt.nl/?r=1&id=415454

 

Over on RC they have a list of British born Aussies - they are trying to find their families !!

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=379339.new;topicseen#new

I'm sure all information will be gratefully received !!

Annie

 

It is good to see that this is getting coverage in the British press; it is the least that can be done.

RIP

Reading the newspaper article - I am reluctant to believe anything in the press - it doesn't sound like Lambis has been specifically banned; the company responsible for exhumation is restricting access to all but their employees. I can understand his frustration, though!

Roxy

 

Fromelles Thuesday morning...

 

Fromelles thuesday morning 2...

 

Fromelles thuesday morning 3... (with courtesy of Carole Laignel)

Révérend Ray Jones & le Père Duprez for the benediction &
prier !
The past photo was for the speech of Welcome from l'Air Commodore Steve
Martin ( chef des Forces Armées de la Défense Australienne à Londres)

 

Recent reports of a shambolic excavation so far generate this comment from our PM. Any locals up there get the impression all is under control?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/06/2617627.htm?site=news

 

Authorities have moved to reassure the families of diggers buried in a mass grave in France that a project to recover their remains is on schedule and being handled in a "professional and sensitive" way.

They've disputed media reports the project to exhume, identify and reinter the remains of 400 British and Australian World War I servicemen at Fromelles is in crisis because contractor Oxford Archaeology is facing delays and other problems.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5704442/govt-defends-fromelles-exhumations/

 

There is still a lot to be done and found .... one problem being that a lot of families were just told that their soldiers fell on the Somme ... and thats the story that has been handed down through the years .... no mention of Fromelles ..... so getting people to be aware of their family members maybe being a part of the mass burials - is and has been something that the ordinary people - amateur historians , military archivists ( not the powers that be ) have been trying to get across !!

I know I'll be thinking of them on Armistice Day ... I hope you will too !