Unknown soldiers laid to rest in Belgium after Dig Hill 80 project

Hundreds of people gathered to mark the burial of 13 unknown soldiers who died fighting in Belgium in the First World War.

The unidentified war dead from the UK and Commonwealth nations were buried side by side with full military honours near Ypres.

Shots from the gun salute rang out across the quiet clearing, the same Flanders field where the men lost their lives.

The ceremony at Wytschaete Military Cemetery formed one of the final chapters of the Dig Hill 80 project, which discovered the remains of 110 soldiers.

Father Patrick O’Driscoll, chaplain to the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, conducted the service, starting at 11am.

The service was attended by representatives of armed forces from various nations, there to pay their respects to the fallen 13 men.

Two of the unknown soldiers, identified as British, were carried to the ceremony by soldiers from the Fusiliers.

The remaining 11 war dead were buried in a third coffin.

The service came as a result of the hard work of those at the Dig Hill 80 project who excavated Hill 80, the site of a German gun emplacement where many UK and Commonwealth soldiers fell.

The project led a 1.1-hectare crowdfunded archaeological excavation which took place at the former site of Hill 80 in Wytschaete, on land that had been allocated for future housing development.

The project excavated 550 metres of trenches and 430 bomb craters, with the remains of 110 soldiers – including British, French, German and South African personnel – discovered.

The German soldiers discovered on Hill 80 will be laid to rest today at the German war cemetery in Langemark.

Picture: PA. The burial of the two British soldiers at Wytschaete Military Cemetery.