Searching so families For the Unknown Soldiers can bury their loved ones
ACROSS the world half-a-million British and Commonwealth soldiers are still unaccounted for and have never had a proper burial.
In a special episode tomorrow night of Long Lost Family – called “The Unknown Soldiers” – the sheer scale of the job in identifying our fallen heroes is brought home.
The result of a four-year investigation, the 60-minute film, producers say, is their “most ambitious to date”.
The show, focused on the work of the so-called War Detectives from the MOD, is presented by Davina Mccall and Nicky Campbell.
Davina reveals there is a soldier on the French side of her family who also remains missing from the Greatwar.
This current investigation begins with an extraordinary discovery in Belgium.
The remains of nine soldiers are found in a trench by road workers in Beselare.the location gives the first clue as to who they are.
It’s the site of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, which became infamous not only for the scale of casualties but for the heavy mud that clogged up rifles and immobilised tanks.
Buried in that earth, 2nd Lieutenant Leslie Ablett from the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers is found, more than
100 years later, identifiable by his ID bracelet and a ring.
Remarkably he still has his officer’s boots, in wearable condition, his tie and his fountain pen.
Nicky Campbell talks to Belgium forensic investigator Stephen.
“These well-preserved boots would have been worn by an officer. We also have a signet ring with ‘LWA’ written on it, with a message ‘From Peggy 1916’, a loved one. There’s also a bracelet saying ‘LW Ablett’. Oh, and an officer’s tie. It’s extraordinary, the preservation.”
With these artefacts and DNA sourced from a living relative – Rachel from Somerset – Ablett’s identity is confirmed.
Recently widowed herself, ceramicist and journalist Rachel knew little about her cousin.
“I’d never heard of him,” she reveals. “But we had a birthday book in the family and it turns out that his name was in there all the time – ‘Lesley, born 1897, Manch school reports it is revealed Le to school in London, before officer’s commission into the Fusiliers regiment, to which were attached.
Rachel continues: “It’s almos because I can do this for som make sure this burial happens i
“I just feel close to him. I f and want to remember him.”
But the team faces the daunt fying the eight bodies found al
Once again Davina and Nick the team from the Mod’s Jo Compassionate Centre.
War Detective Nicola Nash of these soldiers was somebo body’s brother; somebody’s h
says there are challenges to the job. “It can be very frustrating when DNA tests come back negative, especially when you’re convinced you’ve got the right person.
“Sometimes, building family trees can be difficult, especially if a soldier didn’t have many siblings or their siblings didn’t have any children.”
This time they have a breakthrough – they believe one of the soldiers could be Private Harry Miller from Durham.
Before joining up, he was a farm labourer, and was reported “killed in action”, aged 28.
Granddaughter Brenda Clayton, 77, is eager to know the truth about Harry, who had a wife, Melita, a baby son George and another child when he headed to the front.
We learn that Melita died from Scarlet Fever after Harry went to war, and his children ended up in an orphanage. “There is something missing,” says Brenda, “right through our lives really.” There is a DNA match and his identity is confirmed.
Brenda says: “It’s unbelievable how traumatised my mother was by Harry’s death. She would watch the broadcast each year of Remembrance Day on the TV without sound. She just watched in silence.
“To our family Harry was very special. Now we know the truth about him.”
The next breakthrough is a link to soldier Arnold Sanderson, a rail worker from Yorkshire, who left behind six sisters and two parents to fight.
Great niece Jackie, in this case, provides the DNA sample. She takes the show through old photos of Arnold who was a runner in the war. One shows Arnold with a group of local villagers. “It looks like they’ve befriended them, doesn’t it?” she says.
She also has an old letter from the Regiment. “You can see it reports his death,” she says, “but also that he ‘was a good soldier, kept the officers informed’ and ‘picked up stragglers’.”
Arnold would receive the Military Medal for bravery.
The nine soldiers are finally buried by the Northumberland Fusiliers regiment with full honours and ceremony, with relatives making the journey to Belgium. Brenda says: “It’s like I’m making the same pilgrimage that Harry did travelling to the Front.”
All nine war heroes are finally laid to rest in graves alongside each other.
Sharon, another great niece of soldier Arnold Sanderson makes the journey to the funeral on behalf of the family.
She says: “Just seeing the funeral party, it’s very emotional. I cried through most of it.”
Nicola Nash adds: “It is impossible not to get emotional with this job.you become so invested in each case, especially as it takes around two years for each one to be completed.
“You get to know the soldier, and he becomes like a family member to you.
“If we get a negative DNA sample we take it personally and are very disappointed!
“It’s also hard sometimes, reading the stories of these brave men and what they went through, and equally hard hearing about their families and their reactions to the loss of loved one.”
Long Lost Family Special: The Unknown Soldiers, tomorrow, ITV, 9pm