YP Comment: Laid to rest at last
PRIVATE HENRY Parker was just another grim statistic when he was killed in the Battle of the Somme, the fate of the Yorkshire soldier unknown until his remains were discovered nearly a century later in a farmer's field in France and successfully identified thanks to advancements in DNA technology which had not even been discovered when the First World War still raged.
Yet the very fact that the 22-year-old, from Weaverthorpe, could finaly be buried in a simple service with full military honours is testimony to the remarkable – and often unheralded – work of the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre which attempts to trace family members when remains are found. Without this work, ably assisted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which continues to maintain cemeteries and burial sites to an exemplary standard, selfless heroes like Private Parker would still be lying in unmarked graves with their stories of sacrifice untold.