Fallen WWI Diggers reclaim their name after century-old mystery solved

They lay in the earth of France and Belgium for about 110 years, lost to the carnage of World War I and without an identity.

But now Roy Martin, from Cobar in New South Wales and Duncan McKenzie, from Kerang in Victoria, have been retrieved from history after being formally identified.

Pte Martin, of the 30th Battalion, was killed during the Battle of Fromelles, France, on July 19-20, 1916.

Second Lt McKenzie, of the 38th Battalion, was killed on October 12, 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, as the Diggers tried to capture German positions near Passchendaele in Belgium.

The Battle of Fromelles was the first major battle fought by Australians in France.

And it turned into the bloodiest 24 hours in Australian military history.

The Diggers and their British allies attacked over open ground at 6pm, still lit up by the daylight.

By the time the guns fell silent the next day, 5533 Diggers had been killed, wounded or captured.

Many of those killed are still unaccounted for.

After the battle 250 Australians were buried by German forces in an unmarked mass grave in nearby Pheasant Wood.

There they lay, unrecognised until research driven by Melbourne amateur historian Lambis Englezos led in 2008 to the location of the grave.

In 2009 an excavation at the site located 250 sets of remains in five mass graves.

The last of the 250 was laid to rest in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in 2010 — many as unknown Australian soldiers.

Efforts to identify them continued.

The Army’s Unrecovered War Casualties section painstakingly examined DNA, along with forensic and historical evidence, assisted greatly by the Fromelles Association of Australia.

As part of this process Pte Martin was identified as one of the unknown soldiers recovered from the Pheasant Wood mass grave.

Pte Martin will have a new headstone bearing his name and regimental details re-dedicated at Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery on July 19, the 110th anniversary of the tragic Battle of Fromelles.

Defence has now formally identified 181 of the 250 soldiers recovered from the German mass grave.

Second Lt McKenzie’s 38th Battalion were in action on October 12, 1917 in the Battle of Passchendaele as part of an unsuccessful attack by the 3rd Australian Division during the Third Battle of Ypres.

He had taken a group of men to tackle German positions across the northern flank of the 10th Brigade, where the neighbouring New Zealand Brigade had been repulsed.

Defence says there were a variety of accounts of him being captured or killed during the attack.

But Second Lt McKenzie’s body was not formally identified when the battlefield was cleared after the war ended in 1918, and so he remained missing in action.

The remains of an unknown Australian soldier, identified only as a second lieutenant, had been recovered west of Passchendaele, Belgium in March 1920 and were buried at the nearby Passchendaele New British Cemetery.

In 2017, the Army received a submission from historical research group Fallen Diggers Incorporated that an unknown Australian buried in the New British Cemetery was Second Lte McKenzie.

His descendants, the Army, Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Office of Australian War Graves will work to have his headstone remade to bear his name and regimental details.

Fallen Diggers Incorporated have now been responsible for restoring identities to 44 missing Australian soldiers from WWI.

Chief of the Australian Army, Lt-Gen. Simon Stuart, said the identification of the soldiers highlighted the nation’s enduring commitment to honouring its war dead.

“Time does not diminish our obligation to remember their service and to honour them with the dignity of a named grave,” he said.

Members of the public with relatives who died while serving with the Army and have no known grave are encouraged to register with Unrecovered War Casualties – Army.