PRINCE CHARLES PAID TRIBUTE TO FROMELLES SOLDIERS

PRINCE CHARLES PAID TRIBUTE TO THE FORGOTTEN MEN OF FROMELLES. THE LAST OF 250 BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN TROOPS FOUND IN A MASS GRAVE NEAR THE FIRST WORLD WAR BATTLEFIELD OF FROMELLES HAS BEEN REBURIED WITH FULL MILITARY HONORS IN NORTHERN FRANCE. THE PRINCE OF WALES JOINED DESCENDANTS OF SOLDIERS AS A COFFIN BEARING THE REMAINS OF THE UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER WERE TAKEN TO THE NEW CEMETERY ON A MILITARY WAGON DRAWN BY HORSES FROM THE KING'S TROOP ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY. HE SAID: 'I AM PROFOUNDLY HUMBLED BY THE OUTSTANDING BRAVERY OF THESE MEN, WHO FOUGHT SO VALIANTLY.' THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOLDIERS' REMAINS BY A HISTORIAN TWO YEARS AGO LED TO THE BIGGEST SINGLE EXCAVATION SINCE THE FIRST WORLD WAR. DNA SPECIALISTS IDENTIFIED 205 OF THE BODIES AS AUSTRALIAN, 96 OF THEM BY NAME. THREE WERE IDENTIFIED AS BRITISH, ALTHOUGH THEIR FULL IDENTITIES HAD NOT YET BEEN DISCOVERED, AND A FURTHER 45 REMAIN UNKNOWN. TESTS DISCLOSED THAT MOST OF THE SOLDIERS WERE TEENAGERS, SOME OF WHOM LIED ABOUT THEIR AGE WHEN THEY SIGNED UP. ANOTHER 249 SOLDIERS FROM FROMELLES SITE WERE BURIED IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY IN CEREMONIES AT THE NEW MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE VILLAGE, WHICH IS THE FIRST TO BE BUILT SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. MANY OF THE BRITONS WERE THOUGHT TO HAVE COME FROM GLOUCESTERSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENTS. FROMELLES WAS THE SCENE OF A POORLY PLANNED AND FUTILE BATTLE ON 19.JULY.1916. IN AN ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE 400 YARDS OF GROUND, 5,553 AUSTRALIANS AND 1,547 BRITISH SOLDIERS WERE KILLED IN A 'LATTICE OF DEATH' OF GERMAN CROSSFIRE. THE BATTLE IS LITTLE KNOWN IN BRITAIN BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS THE NEARBY BATTLE OF SOMME, FROM WHERE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DIVERT GERMAN TROOPS.