The tragedy of Fromelles is being compounded because Great Britain and Australia are not prepared to keep faith with our Great War dead. Many unknowns from the battle are still being neglected and only a limited number of the missing from the actual battle are being unearthed, processed and identified. Relatives of the missing have also criticized the way the project is progressing and are becoming concerned there is a likelihood that inappropriate DNA techniques will be applied during the recovery operation.

The contract for DNA testing has now been awarded and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission organized to oversee the full archaeological investigation, but the United Kingdom and Australian Government still ignore the plea of Fromelles Discussion Group to include all the aggregated remains of the 5th Division AIF from this particular attack in the project. Besides the 191 Australian Great War Diggers officially listed as being in the mass grave at Fromelles, there are supposed to be 1,131 unidentified bodies from this skirmish at VC Corner Military Cemetery as well as other cemeteries in the neighbouring district.

Out of the 1,294 recorded on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial still said to be missing and unidentified, there are 410 at VC Corner Cemetery itself, 266 at Rue David Military Cemetery, 142 Ration Farm Military Cemetery, 120 at Auber’s Ridge British Cemetery, 72 “Y” Farm Military Cemetery, 52 Le Trou Aid Post Cemetery, 27 Rue du Bois Military Cemetery, 22 Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, 10 Anzac Cemetery at Sailly-sur-la-Lys and 10 Sailly-sur-la-Lys Canadian Cemetery.

The only way to recognize Australia’s debt to these gallant soldiers is to include them all in the project to ensure they are properly honoured and memorialized.