New canal through the Somme

[carom]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before.
A new canal, the Seine Nord Europe is to be built, its route going up through Peronne and the Eastern Somme.
The CWGC have been researching the battlefields which will be excavated and are anticipating that the remains of over 700 Allied soldiers will be found. Research will be undertaken to make any identification if possible and the CWGC cemetery at Loos is to be extended for reburials.
A great uncle of mine was killed near Peronne and is one of many with no known grave who are remembered at the Arras memorial.

[Treetotal]

That's really good news, Thanks for sharing.
Carol

[AllanUK]

Hopefully it could result in closure for some families.

[scrimnet]

A little known fact is that the CWGC know the location of just about every body in France and Flanders. Not that they will admit it.

I worked for them for a while, and found out a load of shocking facts about them.....

[Kingsclere]

  Please explain!

A little known fact is that the CWGC know the location of just about every body in France and Flanders. Not that they will admit it.

I worked for them for a while, and found out a load of shocking facts about them.....

[stevej60]

It will be fascinating to see what remains are found I wonder if DNA will be a possibility,it's always worth contacting the CWGC when researching a casualty,my Uncle was killed in May 1940 in an incident in a village near Arras no known grave,I noticed some of his company comrades were buried a few miles way in Lille I enquired the circumstances of this and their records showed 17 bodies were originally buried in the Village churchyard and were concentrated to Lille after the war 4 were unidentified,I like to think he may be one of the four.

[Viktoria]

At Tyne Cot Cemetery at the 50th anniversary of Passendale ,a lady was franticly rushing round looking for her father’s grave ,we advised her there was book with all the names and grave plots in it .
She was on a bus tour and the whistler blew for passengers to rejoin their coaches .
Her father was John Strachey of Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers.
She gave a date etc.17  October 1917,50 years before.  .
We could not find him at Tyne Cot.
A little further down the road to Ypres we stopped at a tiny cemetery where graves were random ,not in straight lines and there he was .
We had no means  of contacting his daughter .
Later such from tiny cemeteries bodies were moved and re interred in bigger ones.
A few years later we enquired of the CWGC on Elverdinghe Straat ,Ypres,opposite St,George’s English Church.
Gave name ,regiment and date ,and asked where he was as the little cemetery had gone .
We were told no such soldier existed, only one if that name a Canadian ,who had not been killed.
We explained the meeting at Tyne Cot ,the grave in the tiny cemetery so there was more than one man named John Strachey, ,but no, they were adamant.
My husband remembered ,I did and our two sons, so——
I mean who of my generation could forget the man whose Groundnut scheme failed so woefully !- so it was easy to remember the soldier’s name .
They are very good but on that occasion not so.
Viktoria.

[Kaybron]

My husband had a great uncle, aged 18 years and 6 months, killed at Moquet Farm in France in 1916.  Several days ago he received a letter from a Genomics Research Centre in Queensland, Australia, asking if he was willing to supply a DNA sample.  The centre is gathering a database which can be used to help identify the remains of unidentified soldiers. The names of missing service members were provided to the Research Centre by UWC-A (Uncovered War Casualties -Army) and names were selected based on their proximity to recently recovered remains. Traditional genealogy methods are employed to establish family pedigree trees which are then used to identify potential candidates for DNA testing.

[IMBER]

At Tyne Cot Cemetery at the 50th anniversary of Passendale ,a lady was franticly rushing round looking for her father’s grave ,we advised her there was book with all the names and grave plots in it .
She was on a bus tour and the whistler blew for passengers to rejoin their coaches .
Her father was John Strachey of Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers.
She gave a date etc.17  October 1917,50 years before.  .
We could not find him at Tyne Cot.
A little further down the road to Ypres we stopped at a tiny cemetery where graves were random ,not in straight lines and there he was .
We had no means  of contacting his daughter .
Later such from tiny cemeteries bodies were moved and re interred in bigger ones.
A few years later we enquired of the CWGC on Elverdinghe Straat ,Ypres,opposite St,George’s English Church.
Gave name ,regiment and date ,and asked where he was as the little cemetery had gone .
We were told no such soldier existed, only one if that name a Canadian ,who had not been killed.
We explained the meeting at Tyne Cot ,the grave in the tiny cemetery so there was more than one man named John Strachey, ,but no, they were adamant.
My husband remembered ,I did and our two sons, so——
I mean who of my generation could forget the man whose Groundnut scheme failed so woefully !- so it was easy to remember the soldier’s name .
They are very good but on that occasion not so.
Viktoria.

I cannot find any record of this person in the HMSO Soldiers Died in the Great War and in the Medal Roll Index Cards. He's not recorded in the CWGC on line index either. Are you sure these details are correct?