Australian history re-emerges with soldiers identified on anniversary of Fromelles

Seven Australian soldiers lost to one of Australia’s greatest military disasters for more than a century have been newly identified, with some families travelling to France to commemorate their deceased ancestors.

Daniel Stansfield-Smith, Chris McDonald, Ross Stansfield-Smith and Ellie McDonald with a picture of Harold Thomson Smith. Picture: Tony Gough

Seven Australian soldiers lost to one of Australia’s greatest military disasters for more than a century have been newly identified, with some families travelling to France to commemorate their deceased ancestors.

The 1916 Battle of Fromelles was a joint offensive by the 5th Australian Division and the British 61st Division in France during World War I. From July 19 to July 20, the Anzacs endured 5533 casualties, with almost 2000 dead.

Some 250 of the Australian dead were left in a mass grave outside the site of Pheasant Wood.

Identifying the deceased has been a persistent challenge for the Australian Defence Force’s un­recovered war casualties division.

Through DNA testing and by constructing family trees of those deceased, seven more of the men buried at Pheasant Wood have been identified: Private Alfred William Ansell, 30; Private George Robert Barnatt, 31; Corporal Percy George Barr, 20; Private William Christopher Brumby, 29; Private Herbert James Graham, 24; Lance Corporal Harold Thomson Smith, 20; and Private Ernest Frank Welling, 31.

The Pheasant Wood mass grave was not discovered until 2007, and contained all the bodies of those who had fought their way through to enemy lines.

For Stephen Gray, a knock on the door from the Fromelles Association of Australia helped him understand his ancestor Ernest.

“Ern”, who served under his stepfather’s surname of Welling, lived a hard and tragic life. He married in 1911 and his wife, Florence, gave birth to their son, Ernest William one year later. His happiness was short-lived: their son died in 1913 and Florence a year later. In 1915, Ern enlisted.

Ernest Frank Welling.

Alfred William Ansell.

“I put two and two together that the poor bugger has lost his wife and his child, and he must have decided ‘I’ll get out of here, and maybe I’ll go off to war’,” Mr Gray said. “At Fromelles he was among the reserves, so after the first battalions were gunned down, he was sent in and suffered not much better.”

Historians have dubbed the Battle of Fromelles “the worst 24 hours in Australia’s history”.

Australian troops were forced to advance across open country into German fire. As the first battalions fell, a German counter-­attack surrounded the Anzac forces and prevented any escape.

While the identification of Welling’s body is a century overdue, for Mr Gray it was a chance to understand where his family’s history of military service began.

Mr Gray’s father was a veteran, and after digging into Ern’s life, he learned several relatives were “likely inspired” by him to fight in World War II. “It makes everybody so proud that you’ve got a link to that period of history,” he said. “It has a sense of patriotism.”

The seven newly identified war dead will have their headstones rededicated on the battle’s 108th anniversary on Friday at the Pheasant Wood cemetery.

In Welling’s case, it was up to Mr Gray to decide on an epitaph. His new headstone reads: “A life of love and sorrow. Now at rest. May God keep his soul in peace.”

Veteran Affairs’ Minister Matt Keogh inherited the mission to identify those at Pheasant Wood; 70 soldiers remain unknown.

Peter Ustick, 73, carries a familial tie to one of the most elusive soldiers in the re-identification effort, Alfred William Ansell.

He had tried to join the war effort but was knocked back for missing his requisite vaccinations. At 28, he successfully enlisted on his second try by fudging the paperwork and registering under his mother’s maiden name.

The Australian Army didn’t ­realise he had snuck in until the early 1920s, and it was another century before his mystery was truly solved, when Mr Ustick’s mother volunteered her DNA to help find a match for Alfred. “He must have been that desperate to get in the army,” Mr Ustick said.

Former high school teacher and amateur historian Lambis Englezos was the key figure in the original hunt to rediscover the mass grave at Pheasant Wood. Using aerial photography and written accounts, he identified the site and lobbied for government to retrieve those buried there.

For many families, the rediscovery solves a missing link in their history, with many travelling to Fromelles for the unveiling of the renewed gravestones.

Ross Stansfield-Smith, a DNA-proven relative of Harold Thomson Smith, said he was humbled by the dedication and science involved. “I’m trying to comprehend how a bit of my saliva can identify bones from 108 years ago,” he said.

Harold was the youngest of the soldiers newly identified and spent almost the entire war as a teenager, travelling across Egypt and Gallipoli. The day he stormed the fields of Fromelles, July 19, was also his birthday.

He died a 20-year-old.