6:42pm Thursday 31st July 2008
The bodies of Oxfordshire soldiers discovered in a mass First World War grave will be individually reburied at a new cemetery, it was announced today.
Soldiers from the 2/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - a Territorial Army unit formed in Oxford in 1914 - were among British and Australian troops who fought at Fromelles, in France, in July 1916.
The bodies of about 400 troops were discovered in the mass grave last month. Now the two countries' governments have agreed to exhume and reinter each body.
The new cemetery will be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as close as possible to the mass grave at Pheasant Wood, on the edge of Fromelles. During the 24-hour battle, the Australians suffered 5,533 casualties (killed, wounded and captured) and Britain 1,547.
The British troops came from the 61st (South Midlands) Division, which included the Ox & Bucks battalion.
Veterans Minister Derek Twigg said: "It is right and proper those brave men who lost their lives at Fromelles are buried with the honour and dignity befitting their ultimate sacrifice.
"The new cemetery will be a lasting tribute to their bravery and a place of pilgrimage for families who lost a relative in the battle."
Did one of your relatives serve in the 2/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Fromelles? Call our news desk on 01865 425422 or email news@oxfordmail.co.uk
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