A number of Australian World War I diggers have been lying in unmarked graves for over a hundred years without headstones or crosses. 9News
"No one knew there was anyone there and now they do," Jameson said.
Names, photos, death notices and love letters are among the clues that have helped solve the mystery of the 96 men and one woman who died in and around Orange after returning home from the war. The once-blank burial plots now bear the names of diggers like William White. "My brother, my cousins, I've got children and I'd love them all to be here to think about William, what it means to the family and what he did and the fact that he has been found.""That's his war number, 4345, his name, his battalion," Bridget Watson said, describing her ancestor's new burial site."To hold it gives you that more meaning and more closeness to that ancestor.
It's believed the reason the 97 soldiers were buried in unmarked graves was that many of their stories had troubled endings. "Sadly many of them will never see a Commonwealth war grave because their cause of death doesn't fit the definition of an official war casualty," Thomas said.
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