Armed Forces Day: War detectives trace unknown graves of Somme soldiers
The graves of two British soldiers who were killed during the Battle of the Somme have been identified and rededicated in northern France.
Both served with units which later merged to form the Royal Anglian Regiment.
The services were organised by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre - also known as the MoD War Detectives.
They were held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Ovillers Military Cemetery and at the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery.
2nd Lt Ernest Cole, who was 29, was serving with 8th Battalion The Northamptonshire Regiment.
Originally from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and was sent to the Western Front in September 1916.
A few weeks later C Company of 1st Battalion The Northamptonshire Regiment took part in an attack on the Flers Line.
The attack was unsuccessful and 2nd Lt Cole was killed during the fighting. His son, also named Ernest Lockett Cole, was born on 19 March 1917, six months after his father’s death.
After the war his remains were moved into Ovillers Military Cemetery where he was buried as an unknown Second Lieutenant of The Northamptonshire Regiment.
It was noted that the initials EC were marked on the man’s underclothing. As he was missing, 2nd Lt Cole was commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.
Sergeant Ernest Harris, who was 21, came from Takeley in Essex. He was killed on 8 August 1918 during the Battle of Amiens which marked the start of the Hundred Days Offensive, when the Allies forced the Germans into retreat and brought the First World War to a conclusion.
Harris was serving with 10th Battalion The Essex Regiment which attacked north east of the village of Sailly-le-Sec.
After the Great War as the battlefields were cleared the remains of 28 soldiers were moved into Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery from a location near Sailly-le-Sec.
Among these men was a sergeant belonging to The Essex Regiment who was known to have been killed on 8 August 1918. As Sergeant Harris was missing he was commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial.
War detective Rosie Barron helped discover the remains of the two soldiers.
She said: “It has been an honour to work with The Royal Anglian Regiment... to organise these rededication services.
Both 2nd Lt Cole and Sjt Harris are remembered with great pride by their families, who after all this time, now know the fate of their missing relatives. To share this experience with them and to become part of that story is a privilege.”
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