Six World War One soldiers from the UK’s Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment have been laid to rest in Belgium following a painstaking identification process that spanned more than a century.
The burial took place at the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions Tyne Cot Cemetery on Wednesday. The remains were discovered during archaeological investigations near Gheluwe in the summer of 2020. The soldiers had fallen together in a shell strike over 100 years earlier.
The excavation revealed shoulder titles indicating the men belonged to the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, and one soldier was carrying equipment associated with a Lewis Gun. The men were identified as Private Horace Cook from Matching in Essex, Private Frederick Martin and Private Charles Russell, both from London, Private Thomas Whitaker from Bradford, Private Courtney Hart from Northampton, and Private Joseph Turnley from Bristol.
Research of the regimental war diaries confirmed the incident occurred on 6 October 1918. The diary entry described how the battalion came under heavy trench mortar fire in the early hours of the morning, resulting in a direct hit on a Lewis Gun team occupying a small trench, killing all six crew members and destroying the gun.
The UK’s MOD Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre traced descendants of the six men and collected DNA samples that provided positive matches. The service was organised by the MOD War Detectives and attended by members of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment who provided a bearer party for the funeral.
Family members attended the ceremony, including Paul Turnley, great-nephew of Private Joseph Turnley, and Joe Whitaker, great-great-nephew of Private Thomas Whitaker. The CWGC will now care for the graves in perpetuity, and new headstones bearing the names of the six men have been installed.
