DNA helps find Fromelles WW1 digger Maurice Corigliano after Para Hills family feared he was lost forever

HE WAS killed during a counter-attack at Fromelles in 1915 and feared lost forever but DNA technology has helped Maurice Corigliano’s family solve this puzzle of his WW1 journey.

Maurice Corigliano, nephew and namesake of Australian soldier Private Maurice Corigliano, who lost his life in the battle of Fromelles, France, during World War 1 in 1916.

SHIRALEE Reardon can only imagine the courage it must have taken for her great uncle to fight and die in the bloodiest 24 hours in Australian history.

Private Maurice Corigliano died during the Battle of Fromelles in France in July 1916.

He had been in the trenches for just two days when he was killed in the ill-fated attack.

“He got to the third enemy line before he was wounded and then they had to pull back because there was a surprise German counter-attack,” Ms Reardon said.

It was during this counter-attack, on July 20, that the 33-year-old was shot and killed.

Ms Reardon, of Para Hills, said her family was “extremely proud” of Corigliano, who was in the 32nd Battalion.

“Just to hear what they went through is just mind-boggling,” she said.

“They were facing machines guns and had to get up out of the trench and run a hundred yards … you just can’t imagine the courage it must have taken to actually break cover and keep on running forward.”

Corigliano was among the more than 5500 Australian soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner on the night of July 19-20, 1916.

For the next 94 years, the fallen soldier’s whereabouts remained unknown.

In 2010, his body was identified as one of 250 in a mass grave at Pheasant Wood.

Ms Reardon and her cousin, also called Maurice Corigliano, gave DNA samples to help identify their great uncle.

“(We were) very surprised,” Ms Reardon said.

“It was something that the family occasionally spoke about but we were obviously upset that his body wasn’t found and when it was found, I think everybody who was still with us were extremely happy.”

THIS story is part of Messenger’s 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which will profile 100 South Australian World War I heroes as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. If you have the details and war record of a family member who served during World War I, let us know. Please go to your local Messenger’s Facebook page and send us the details.

Originally published as DNA helps find Fromelles WW1 digger Maurice Corigliano after Para Hills family feared he was lost forever