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War heroes buried nearly 100 years on in a corner of a foreign field that is forever England

War heroes buried nearly 100 years on in a corner of a foreign field that is forever England
The bodies of the WWI soldiers were found in a field four years ago but were finally laid to rest with full military honours today
For nearly 100 years they were listed as missing in action. But today two British war heroes were finally laid to rest with full military honours. The bodies of First World War soldiers Lieutenant John Pritchard and Private Christopher Elphick, of The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), were found by a French farmer in his field just four years ago. And thanks to jewellery they were both wearing they were not only identified, but living relatives tracked down. Lt Pritchard and Pte Elphick were buried at Ecoust-St Mein near Arras in France, just two miles from where they fell in Bullecourt next to the Hindenburg Line. Relatives of both men, who were killed on May 15, 1917, during an enemy attack while serving with the HAC’s 2nd Battalion, travelled across the Channel for the ceremony where the men, along with two unidentified comrades, received an official farewell. More than 300 people attended the ceremony, including Prince Michael of Kent in his capacity as HAC Royal Honorary Colonel. Their remains were found by elderly farmer Didier Guerle, who had never before ploughed the field on his father’s instructions. First, in 2009, he unearthed one of the soldier’s gas canisters, then dug a little deeper to remove it, finding the decomposed bodies.
Honoured at last: Captain John Harold Pritchard
Honourable Artillery Company archives
Lt Pritchard, who survived the Battle of the Somme where more than a million soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded, and a gunshot wound to the neck, was identified by a silver identity bracelet, and Pte Elphick by a gold signet ring which bears his initials, but it took three years to trace their relatives. Two further sets of remains could not be identified, but they were re-interred at the same time as “HAC soldiers known unto God”. The soldiers’ coffins were draped in the Union flag carried by bearer parties, with the regimental forage cap, belt, and wreath on top, accompanied by the HAC Band. A military firing party fired a salute during the service and afterwards two of Lt Pritchard’s great-nieces and their husbands performed Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Crossing The Bar - which John Pritchard read to his mother and sister before he left for France the final time. The families were presented with the flag covering the coffins, as well as Lt Pritchard’s identity bracelet and Pte Elphick’s signet ring. Lt Pritchard’s family were also given his officer’s sword by an American collector who had come across the sword in the USA, and donated it back to his family. The soldier had the sword made in the September of 1915 while he was recuperating from injury back in Blightly. Lt Pritchard’s nephew John “Harold” Shell, 89, from Winchester, laid a wreath on behalf of the family during the ceremony. He said: “It’s an incredible experience. I can hardly put it into words. It never entered your head that we’d find him, after all these years why should it? “It seems silly to say it but the feeling I had was that he is coming home. He isn’t of course, but that was the feeling.”

Mr Shell, who was among more than 30 members of the Pritchard family at the service added: “Unexpectedly to me I was completely overwhelmed, my emotions just took charge. “I envisaged my mother who died some years ago standing there with me. It is a very strange feeling, even talking about it affects me now.” Lt Pritchard’s family only knew of the discovery of his body when his great niece Janet Shell, from Merseyside, typed his name into Google and amazingly saw historians discussing the news on an internet forum. John Harold Pritchard was born in London in March 1886 and at the age of 11 he became a pupil at the prestigious St Paul’s Cathedral School. Something of a Boy’s Own hero, he was captain of cricket and football and eventually head boy, while as a chorister he took part in the Coronation of Edward VII – singing the first performance of Hubert Parry’s anthem I Was Glad. Leaving school in 1903, he started work at the London head offices of the Alliance Assurance Company - today’s Royal Sun Alliance - and in 1909 he signed up for the Army’s oldest regiment, the Honourable Artillery Company. When war broke out in 1914 the insurance company inspector, by then holding the rank of Sergeant, was one of the first wave who went to France to fight. Rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant, he was badly injured in March 1915 and invalided home, where he had a ceremonial sword made and where he was given the chance to remain in a desk job. But he chose to return to his men, and became a temporary Captain in 1916 – even holding the title Major at one point. Lt Pritchard’s great-niece, Janet Shell, 54, from Walton-on- Thames, Surrey, said they had always known about John Harold Pritchard because of a plaque honouring him at St Paul’s Cathedral. She said: “It really is the most momentous thing that could ever happen to a family, and being here today is the culmination of something we have been talking about for 15 months in my family and for many years before by my mother’s generation. “This is bringing it full circle with us all here representing our great-grandmother who connects us all, and gives us somewhere to come in the future for the next generation.” She added: “We’ll now have a grave the family can always visit. He will never be forgotten.”
Discoveries: Farmer Didier Guerle with war relics he found in his field
Lt Pritchard never married, but Pte Elphick, a former insurance clerk, left a widow and baby son, Ronald Douglas, who was born in August 1916. Ronald never knew his father, but kept his memory alive for his two sons, Christopher and Martin who travelled to France for the burial with their families. Christopher Elphick, 64, from Cross-In-Hand in East Sussex, said: “It means a tremendous amount to have this wonderful ceremony. We feel incredibly honoured about this. It’s putting an end to a mystery that has been with our family for almost 100 years. “All we knew was that he went missing during the First World War and that was it. "My grandmother and my father were in complete ignorance about the situation and he ended up being found in the strangest way, just out of the blue.” He said the ceremony was “incredibly emotional” and added: “I was virtually in tears in a fair number of places.” Pte Elphick’s family was contacted out of the blue by a stranger who wanted to know if they were in some way related. They went on the Great War Forum website and found that his body had been recovered. DNA samples have been taken from the remains of the two unidentified bodies which authorities hope will allow them to be identified if any of their relatives come forward. About a million soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth were killed during World War One and around half of them have never been identified. And a poignant memorial in the town of Arras lists the names of 34,725 British men who are still “missing in action.” The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the British Army, was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Its regiments have fought in both world wars and the current Regiment forms part of the Territorial Army.

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