" Fromelles ".

It was referred to as " the Great War " by many, but " the war to end all wars " certainly didn't achieve that objective. It was by far the bloodiest war of the twentieth century when it came to men in uniform killed in battle.

The " First World War " came at an unfortunate time. It was near the end of the " horse " era, but motor vehicles were still feeble and unreliable - and aircraft were in their infancy.

Unfortunately the machine gun had been perfected and when two great armies clashed the generals' had no better idea than to order troops to advance in the face of murderous fire. The casualties were enormous !

One of those battles was at " Fromelle " in France. It was a disastrous defeat that had no hope of success. Huge numbers of British and Australian troops advanced over open farmland swept by massed machine guns and strafed by artillery. Two thousand Australians died in a single night.

The dead were buried in mass graves - and now, ninety years later those graves have been located. Initial digging has unearthed Australian metal badges which prove that men in Australian uniform were laid to rest there.

Now comes decision time. Should these graves be disturbed and attempts made by way of DNA evidence to identify the missing dead ? Should whatever remains of those killed be exhumed and transferred to nearby war cemeteries - or perhaps repatriated to their home towns in Australia ?

To some extent the wishes of the next of kin of those killed should be respected, but a lot of time has passed and few direct descendants remain alive today. Perhaps those fields should be declared war graves and left undisturbed, acquired from their present owners and sanctified as a permanent memorial to those who fell in battle and were buried there so long ago.

A park of peace might be a dignified way to remember them !