Great War heroes given military burial

THREE soldiers were finally given a dignified burial yesterday more than 100 years after their deaths in the First World War.

The three unknown soldiers – one from the Lancashire Fusiliers and two Australians – were buried in a special service at Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres, Belgium, with full military honours. In a solemn hour-long ceremony attended by Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood, the coffins were brought in by bearer parties formed of serving troops.

A volley of shots were fired across the Flanders fields as a mark of respect before the Last Post was sounded by a bugler in a corner of the vast cemetery.

Mr Ellwood said: “Simply being here reminds you of the scale of the sacrifice that was made 100 years ago. It’s absolutely right we bestow our gratitude by giving them full military honours.”

The soldiers’ remains were uncovered during engineering works in 2016. They were found side by side in what was thought to be a shell hole along a road leading to the cemetery.

Also discovered at the grave site were fragments from a winter coat, service buttons, British boots and a pencil with an inscription from Eagley Cricket Club, near Bolton.

Researchers were still unable to confirm the Briton’s identity but he probably died in the Battle of Passchendaele, fought over 105 days in 1917. There were thought to be 500,000 casualties on all sides in the fight, 42,000 of whom were never recovered.