Known Only Unto God

Tuesday, 09 March 2010

"Known only unto God" was a line written by Rudyard Kipling to commemorate his dead son and all of those who perished during the Great War. Lines of graves with "Unknown soldier" who if they are fortunate get a regimental badge, scatter the fields of France and Flanders. Over a year ago historian Peter Barton found records in Geneva belonging to the Red Cross, that contained the lists identifying those interred on the Western Front.

It is nothing short of a national disgrace that there has been absolutely no action taken in remedying the loss of identity for the fallen. Today Britain is quick enough to honour arrivals at Wootton Bassett but those who died ninety years ago get nothing. Is there some dichotomy in death?

Use of DNA could be employed here, such a large database as in the U.K (the world's largest) could aid in putting a name to the deceased. Why has there been such a gap in rectifying the omission of placing a name to a grave? Would Britain stand for it if those who died in the Falklands or Sangin were simply left without a record?

Finally my own family is amongst the hundreds of thousands who have a family member lying in a (still) unmarked grave. My Great-Uncle, my Grandfather's eldest brother was killed in the pre-dawn of 1915 near Ypres. Last November I went on a secular pilgrimage to find some trace.

There were several places he could have been buried and I attempted to visit all. Yet without the records it was a futile endevour. Surely there must be some way of shaming the government into actually doing something to ensure that the posthumous heroism and suffering of those who died in the trenches is recognised.

Author: Ron Broxted (After Watt)