EXCLUSIVE: Australian soldier killed in WWI identified 105 years after death
- Replies 3
EXCLUSIVE: Australian soldier killed in WWI identified 105 years after death
Remains of a fallen Victorian soldier have been identified after being buried in an unmarked grave in France for 105 years.
Remains of Lieutenant James Kennedy have been identified 105 years after his death. Credit: 9News.
Investigators linked a Boer War service ribbon to Lieutenant James Kennedy who was slain during World War I.
The groundbreaking discovery brings closure to four generations of descendants.
Lieutenant Kennedy's grandson Mark Kennedy described the discovery as a "small miracle".
"Since 1987 I've tried here and there to search for information regarding my grandfather's whereabouts," he said.
"But like thousands of others like him, he vanished in the trenches."
"I'd grown up with many stories of him from my father, so I think it's fair to say he was lost but not forgotten."
Mr Kennedy also talked of the 'great wartime romance' between his grandparents who met on a troopship.
He said that his grandfather met his grandmother, Australian Army Nurse Charlotte 'Lottie' Kendall, in a troopship bound to Egypt in 1915.
In 1916, after Lt Kennedy fought alongside the 26th Battalion of the Australian Infantry Force at Gallipoli, he married Lottie at the famous Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.
James Kennedy was then sent to the Western Front and to France in late July 1916, just four months before the birth of his son.
The lieutenant was able to spend a short time with his wife and newborn son while recovering in Scotland after getting seriously wounded at Pozieres.
However, this was the last time Lt Kennedy would see his family because he was killed on the battlefield on November 5, 1916 after rejoining the battalion in October 1916.
The breakthrough discovery has brought closure to four generations of descendants, including Lt Kennedy and his wife’s ‘great wartime romance’. Credit: 9News.
The unmarked headstone where Lt James Kennedy's body was laid for 105 years will be replaced with one bearing his name.
Mark's sister and James' granddaughter Margaret White expressed her gratitude to those who identified the remains of her grandfather.
Margaret said: "I find it amazing they were able to discover my grandfather's final resting place after so many years."
"I've got my grandfather's medals, bugle, and other memorabilia at home, and it's quite incredible how much information is still available more than one hundred years later."
Veteran's Affairs Minister Andrew Gee told 9News: "It's a very emotional time for the family, but they regard it as a small miracle that over 100 years after he fell, Australia has still now been able to identify him."
Thirty-seven fallen Australian First World War soldiers have now been identified thanks to Fallen Diggers Incorporated.
To date, World War I remains the costliest war for Australia, which only had a population of fewer than 5 million people at the time. 60,000 of the 416,809 enlisted Australians were slain during the war.
On Thursday we commemorated and honoured our fallen heroes as we celebrated Remembrance Day.
.png){kind=icon}
