Call for DNA to help identify dead Anzac soldiers

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Call for DNA to help identify dead Anzac soldiers

Call for DNA to help identify dead Anzac soldiers

The descendants of fallen soldiers who died in trenches on a French battlefield more than a century ago have been urged to donate DNA to help identify them.

More than 700 Australian Army infantrymen from the 32nd Battalion were wounded or died in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916 during World War I.

About 70 remain missing and the Fromelles Association of Australia believes they could be among the bodies found in a mass grave in a military cemetery at Fromelles.

It wants help identifying the soldiers, many of who hailed from Western Australia.

Director of Soldier Stories Marg O’Leary said the men deserved to have their names restored to them.

“It helps families honour their soldiers and it also gives them closure,” she told AAP on Monday.

The association has a list of soldiers from 32nd Battalion who are unaccounted for including Private Ian Alistair Cameron from Claremont and Private Charles Frances Shephard from Cottesloe.

It wants families who recognise the names with roots in Perth and its surrounding suburbs, including Subiaco, Claremont, Cottesloe and Victoria Park, to provide DNA samples.

The samples could be the missing link that enables these men to reconnect with their families and ensure their sacrifices are honoured.

Other soldiers’ names include Private Alfred Hugh Fraser of Perth, Private Victor Robert Ingram of Perth and Private Clifford Nicholls Oates of Victoria Park.

Ms O’Leary said the 32nd was part of a 12-battalion force that faced off against the much better-prepared German army.

“It was a very uneven battle and it’s still considered the worst loss by Australia in a day,” she said.

“The Germans were all over them – they had machine guns that crossed from one side of the battlefield to the other.”

After 24 hours of fighting, about 1350 soldiers were unaccounted for and although many bodies have been identified since, hundreds remain missing.

Ms O’Leary said the brave men of the 32nd sustained some of the heaviest losses because they made it into the German trenches.

The mass grave containing 250 fallen soldiers was uncovered at Pheasant Wood cemetery in Fromelles in 2008.

Since then, 180 soldiers have been identified through DNA, including 41 soldiers from the 32nd Battalion, but more than 70 remain unnamed.

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