Villers-Bretonneux, France: Under sombre skies, a lost Digger who lay in an unmarked grave for almost a century has been given a name at last, thanks to the sleuthing of tireless Australian researchers.
Lance-Corporal Vivian George Taylor died in the aftermath of the battle of Le Hamel on July 5, 1918.
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Lost digger's identity discovered
A lost digger who had been buried unnamed for almost a century has been identified by Australian researchers.
It was known as the "textbook victory" – a tactical triumph by Lieutenant-General John Monash, his first as a corps commander. He brought bold new strategies to the battlefield (as well as the new Mark V tank) which were admired and adopted by Australia's allies.
But it was not achieved without bloodshed.
Corporal Taylor survived the main battle, but the next day he was killed as his 23rd Battalion moved up to the frontline outside Le Hamel to gain a better defensive position. He was 27 years old.
He lay in an isolated grave near Villers-Bretonneux and somewhere in the fog of war that grave became nameless. When his remains were re-buried in the cemetery at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, his headstone read simply "an Australian soldier of the Great War".
But in 2015 researchers from the Fallen Diggers association managed to put the pieces together, cross-referencing his location of death, battalion number and service history and eliminating possibilities until only one name was left.
Fallen Diggers researcher Dennis Frank was also able to track down Corporal Taylor's 93-year-old nephew, who was named after his uncle.
His father also served in the AIF, and found about his brother's death in a heartbreaking way, he told a local newspaper in 2015.
"Just before the war ended dad was in the 14th Battalion and one day his unit and Viv's must have been close together and dad said [he] was going to look for Viv," Mr Taylor told the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader.
"This bloke said, 'Who you going to see?' and he said, 'Viv Taylor' and the bloke said don't go because he was killed yesterday."
On Saturday a re-dedication ceremony was held at Villers-Bretonneux.
An army officer read Corporal Taylor's record of service – on July 21, 1915 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, a 170-centimetre-tall labourer from Healesville, Victoria, with brown eyes and brown hair. He was allocated to the 23rd Battalion and embarked at Melbourne in late October, arriving in Egypt in February 1916, then in France in late July of that year.
He was wounded in action at Pozieres in August 1916, appointed Lance-Corporal in October 1917, and was killed in action near Le Hamel on July 5, 1918.
Australian army chaplain Monsignor Glynn Murphy rededicated the grave, and led a prayer for the soldier.
"Today we name and honour the memory of Lance-Corporal Vivian George Taylor, whose mortal remains give testimony to his devotion to duty and to his ultimate sacrifice in the service of his country and to the people of France whom he sought to defend."
He was "lost, loved and never forgotten", Monsignor Murphy said.