'War detectives' restore names to fallen heroes

WAR heroes whose identities have remained a mystery for decades have been identified by Ministry of Defence (MoD) "war detectives" in time for Remembrance Sunday.

- IZZIE ADDISON

> Rediscovered soldiers include Serjeant Henry Ashton (above, back row, second from left) and, below from left, Lieutenant Norman Frederick Hunter, Serjeant William Augustus Fritz and Serjeant George Goodson Moore DCM

(Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA)

Some 52 British and Commonwealth personnel killed in action in the First and Second World Wars have been identified using historical research and advanced DNA testing. A further 33 who are unidentified have been rediscovered and laid to rest.

Ahead of Remembrance Sunday, the work of "war detectives" from the MoD's Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) has been revealed in full for the first time.

Those identified include personnel who served in the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. While some received formal burials as unknown soldiers, others had lain where they fell for much of the past century, without a grave to mark their final resting place.

Of the 85 soldiers rediscovered and commemorated through funeral

ROSEMARY BARRON

and rededication services this year, 74 fought in the First World War and 11 fought in the Second World War.