Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Jun 14

War Detectives Identify 2 WWI Soldiers After 100 Years, Rededicating Graves in Belgium

Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Jun 14

War Detectives Identify 2 WWI Soldiers After 100 Years, Rededicating Graves in Belgium

Q: What modern tools are 'War Detectives' using to solve the century-old mysteries of fallen soldiers?

They are using a blend of modern forensic science and old-fashioned archival detective work. In the case of the two soldiers identified in Belgium, the key tools were digitised military records, war diaries, exhumation reports, casualty lists and grave-location data, which investigators cross-referenced to match rank, regiment, date and place of death. More broadly, the Ministry of Defence’s “War Detectives” and similar teams now also rely on DNA analysis when remains and family samples are available. That can include mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA and wider genealogical matching through family-tree research and, in some cases, public genealogy databases. These methods help narrow identities when records alone are not enough. They also use archaeological and forensic techniques at recovery sites, including careful excavation, skeletal and dental analysis, and the study of personal effects or regimental insignia found with remains. Historical battlefield reconstruction using maps, battalion movements and commanders’ records is another important tool, especially for World War One cases where paperwork is incomplete. So the modern toolkit is not one single technology. It is a combination of digital archives, forensic DNA science, genealogy, archaeological recovery and detailed military record analysis. In the Springate and Stevens case, the breakthrough came mainly from meticulous record-matching rather than laboratory testing.

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 14

Two graves at Hooge Crater Cemetery near Ypres were identified last week as those of Lance Corporal John Edgar Springate, 33, and Sergeant Ernest Albert Stevens, 23, ending more than 100 years of uncertainty.
A young Belgian's inquiry prompted the Ministry of Defence's War Detectives to trace the men by matching rank, regiment and location with war diaries, exhumation reports and missing-soldier records.
Records showed the 11th Battalion, Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, lost 36 men in a 1 October 1918 attack, with 15 still listed missing after the war, narrowing the field until only the two men fit.
New headstones were blessed at a Tuesday rededication service attended by relatives and members of the soldiers' modern regiment, giving both families a confirmed burial place for the first time.
The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre says a case usually takes six to nine months, but it is still working through a surge of genealogy-led inquiries that built up during coronavirus lockdowns.