Soldiers' remains identified ahead of Remembrance Day

Dozens of British and Commonwealth war heroes, whose identities have remained a mystery for decades, have finally been identified by Ministry of Defence “war detectives” ahead of Remembrance Sunday.

- IZZIE ADDISON

A total of 52 personnel killed in action during the First and Second World Wars have been named through meticulous historical research and advanced DNA testing.

Additionally, 33 previously unidentified individuals have been rediscovered and laid to rest.

This significant work, carried out by the MoD's Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), has brought recognition to those who served across the British army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. While some had received formal burials as unknown soldiers, others had lain where they fell for much of the past century, without a marked grave. Of the 85 soldiers now commemorated through funeral and rededication services this year, 74 fought in the First World War and 11 in the Second World War.

The youngest of the casualties to be identified, Trooper Francis Dominic, was just 19 when he was killed in Normandy in August 1944. The oldest was Serjeant Henry Ashton, a career soldier and former railway worker from Derby who died aged 44 in Lens, France, in 1917. The British army used serjeant as the spelling of the rank until the mid-1950s.