After their remains were discovered in a gas pipeline construction near Ypres (Belgium), British and Canadian authorities gave seven soldiers who died more than a century ago in World War I a military burial.
Two separate burials were discovered near the Belgian town in the Flanders Fields. These are where hundreds of thousands died in a muddy, churned hellscape in 1914-18.
Thursday’s ceremony was held at the New Irish Farm Commonwealth War Grave, near Ypres.
Archaeologists discovered 63 sets of World War I soldier remains during their work between 2014-2016.
We remember Private John Lambert and we connect with him. He was a mechanic earning 40 cents per day. He signed up to earn one dollar per day and immediately gave 60cs to his sister,” Reverend Gary Watt said, referring to Canadian Private John Lambert, of the Newfoundland Regiment.
Through DNA, Lambert was identified. He died August 16, 1917.
Watt said that Watt exaggerated Watt’s age to respond more willingly to the call to freedom and democracy. “Private John Lambert shared a common sense of the good. He understood that complacency would not stop freedom being stolen.
Five of the remains belonged to unknown British soldiers. One unknown German soldier was also reburied. Archaeologists discovered artifacts linking the unidentified soldiers to Britain or Germany.
With the advancement of DNA technology, it has been possible to identify more unknown soldiers from World War I. A great-great-nephew and English poet William Wordsworth was honored with a French funeral, just 105 years after his death.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in the United States routinely identifies fallen soldiers using DNA, as well as dental or anthropological analysis.
The remains of U.S. Army Private Pvt. The agency was first to recover and identify Francis Lupo, a World War I casualty.
