Museum to return WWI skull to Australian Army

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia medical museum said Tuesday it will return the skull of an Australian soldier who was killed in World War I to the Australian Army.

A military attache for the Australian Embassy will meet with Mutter Museum officials in the coming weeks to take the skull, the museum said in a statement.

“We can appreciate the position of, and are sympathetic to, the mission of the Australian Army,” said Robert Hicks, the museum's director. “The recovery of remains of soldiers who were lost in combat or died as prisoners of war is vital work.”

The remains are those of 27-year-old Pvt. Thomas Hurdis, of New South Wales, according to a statement from Brig. Shane Gabriel, the military attache.

The announcement came on 100th anniversary of the soldier's death.

Hurdis was wounded at the Battle of Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium, on Sept. 28, 1917. His injuries included a bullet that is lodged and still visible near the left eye socket.

He was treated by a Philadelphia ophthalmologist in France. Five days after he was wounded, a disoriented Hurdis pulled off his bandages and bled to death.

The skull was given to the museum in 1919 by the British government, supervised by the British Medical Services, the museum said. It was part of a collection intended for study by military doctors conducting reconstructive surgery on soldiers. The museum said it hadn't been displayed in years.