I'm gonna be there in about 20 minutes.

Oh, my god!

[laughs] [Davina] Often on Long Lost Family, our searchers are against the clock, trying to reunite families before it's too late.

Your mother's still alive.

-You found my mother?!

-[Davina] Yeah.

At last...

But there's a different sort of search, where no reunion is possible-- a quest to find out what happened to loved ones lost for generations.

[woman] One of my relatives had been killed, and he's lying there for a hundred years.

I often wondered, "What happened that day?

Where is his body?"

Throughout history, thousands of British servicemen and women went off to fight for their country, and remain missing.

Doesn't matter if they're a century apart, doesn't matter if they're a thousand years apart.

They are my brothers out there.

Solving these tragic mysteries that have haunted generations may seem impossible.

But in this special new episode, we follow an extraordinary mission to identify nine British soldiers discovered lying together in a trench on a battlefield of World War I.

To find so many in one location is quite unique.

This band of brothers fought together and died together, and now it's time to bring them back to their families.

His parents couldn't go to a funeral.

They didn't have a body to come home.

It would be fantastic for us all to know where he is.

And every one of these soldiers will be laid to rest at last.

[man] Although they did die 103 years ago, we will bury them as if they'd been killed yesterday.

[keyboard clicking] [melancholy music playing] [woman] I always hoped, one day, somebody will turn up some remains, and we will know where he died.

77-year-old Brenda Clayton has always known that her grandfather, Harry Miller, was killed in World War I, and that his body was never found.

[Brenda] "H.

Miller."

Harry Miller.

Halfway down, to see his name makes me very proud.

Very proud.

A farm laborer, Harry was 20 when he married Melita in Gainford Parish Church in 1909.

So, that's Harry, his wife, Melita, and baby George.

And the other photograph I have, taken at the same time, is of my mother, aged 6; her brother, Jimmy, 4; and Minnie, aged 2.

My mother did once say that little Jimmy had marched behind the soldiers with a little wooden toy gun as they set off.

And that was the last they saw of their father.

Harry was amongst 86 men from the Parish of Gainford who left for France without any idea of their fate.

[Brenda] I wondered what my grandfather would feel, leaving his wife and those children.

Maybe he thought, "We'll be back."

But on October the 15th, 1917, Harry was killed in action, aged 28.

And this wasn't the only loss that Brenda's family suffered.

While Harry was away in France, his wife, Melita, died of scarlet fever, so Brenda's mum and her siblings were orphaned.

My mother, she wasn't able to show emotion.

I just felt so sad for her, that she'd grown up without parents.

There was just something missing, right through our lives, really.

Brenda is one of thousands of people across Britain who have no idea what happened to their missing relative.

I have a great-uncle who was lost in World War I and never found.

This is the French record of his death.

But, of course, we can't go and dig up all the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium to find our fallen, because life has to go on.

But sometimes, an accidental discovery gives us hope.

[keyboard clicking] In October 2018, Belgium road workers came across one of the largest discoveries of British casualties ever uncovered on the battlefields of World War I.

So, the next step was to try to identify them.

[keyboard clicking] The find was referred to a small team in the Ministry of Defence's Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, known as the War Detectives.

-Hi, Nicola.

Hi, Tracey.

-[both respond] So, tell me about your current investigation.

So, this is case number 459, and nine sets of remains were discovered.

These men were actually in a trench.

[Tracey] Yeah, it is quite incredible.

Although it's not unusual to discover First World War casualties in Belgium, to find so many in one location is quite unique.

So, what's your role?

Well, our role is to try and identify these nine casualties to make sure they're afforded a correct and proper burial.

And, I mean, I guess that's quite hard if you don't know who anyone is, at all.

Yes, but we've got a really good clue.

The first clue is the location in which they were found.

They were found in Belgium, but more specifically, they were found, um, in the location of the Third Battle of Ypres.

Which is more commonly known as the Battle of Passchendaele.

[explosions] [Nicky] The Battle of Passchendaele was a push by the allies to control the area around Ypres, in Belgium.

It was trench warfare at its worst.

Relentless rain and the sapping mud completely bogged down the allied advance.

Eventually, the push broke through, but at the cost of 300,000 lives, including our nine unidentified soldiers.

The irony is that, although the muddy bog was the enemy for so many, it may prove to be a vital ally for the investigation.

It has preserved many of the artifacts that were found with the fallen soldiers, and these artifacts could be the key in identifying the fallen men.

This extraordinary cache of items, from socks and ties to toothpaste, pipes, and pens, are analyzed in detail by the recovery team.

[keyboard clicking] [dramatic music note] [Nicky] How do you think these men were killed?

Probably hit by a shell.

The holes in the helmet are the direct hit of shrapnel from the shell.

[Nicky] Okay.

Is there any way of telling who these men were?

So there's several lines of evidence.

The flaming grenade with St. George slaying the dragon, these were men from the Northumberland Fusiliers.

So, now, we know what regiment they're from.

[Stephan] Exactly.

We also have these beautifully preserved boots.

[Nicky] Wow!

So, those would be worn, of course, solely by officers.

It's just extraordinary.

[Stephan] Absolutely.

We have a brass signet ring.

[Nicky] It's quite elaborate an engraving.

[Stephan] We have what we believe are personal initials.

-[Nicky] L.W.A.

-Exactly.

[Stephan] And inside-- a message.

[Nicky] "From Peggy.

1916."

Wow!

[Stephan] But in addition, this bracelet was also found on the skeleton.

[Nicky] "L.W.

Ablett."

[Stephan] So, the luck we had on this is that the same individual wore officer's boots, had a signet ring on his finger, and an ID bracelet that all matched the same initials-- L.W.A, L.W.

Ablett.

With an officer's tie, now the picture starts to be really strong.

[Davina] These intimate items identify 2nd Lieutenant L.W.

Ablett-- a young man with smart boots and a sweetheart called Peggy.

But to remove all doubt, the War Detectives have requested a DNA test with a living relative on his maternal side.

[keyboard clicking] Rachel Fixsen is a journalist and ceramicist who, until recently, knew nothing of her distant cousin.

[Rachel] The first thing that I heard was an email-- they were claiming to be the MOD.

And then, of course, it was the MOD.

And in the email, Nicola mentioned Leslie, this-- the soldier who was my cousin, but I'd never heard of.

And he'd been killed, and he'd been lying there for a hundred years.

I was just really hungry for any information I could get about him.

This is a birthday book.

it was just in the family, and, um, I had a look.

I just wondered whether his birthday would be in there, and, sure enough, it is.

So, Leslie was born in 1897, in Manchester.

Yeah, he'd always been here, always been here for me to discover.

Rachel went on to research as much as she could about Leslie.

She found out his family moved to London, and he went to a school in Dulwich.

His school reports reveal that he was, you know, enthusiastic and pleasant.

Then, as he gets a bit older, he's not doing perhaps all the work he should be doing.

Leslie joined up as a private towards the beginning of the war.

And then, in 1916, he got a commission and became a 2nd lieutenant.

And here, we can see: "Deceased, killed in action.

15th of the 10th, '17."

I just feel close to him.

I feel bound to him and to remember him.

The people who loved him couldn't-- couldn't bury him as they needed to... to finish the process, to say goodbye.

Rachel knows what it's like to lose someone special, as her partner only recently passed away.

Because he was Italian, his family requested he be buried in Italy.

His family are wonderful.

They really, really welcomed me.

But nothing can change the fact that, um...

Sorry.

Um... Yeah, nothing can change the fact that he was, um, taken far away from me, and I had to come back and leave him there.

When the news came about Leslie, I felt it's almost like a gift to me, because now I can do this for someone else, to make sure that this burial happens in the right way.

Rachel's DNA has confirmed the identity of 2nd Lt. Ablett, killed on the 15th of October, 1917.

But now, the War Detectives face the more difficult task of naming the eight comrades found beside him.

They're investigating which other men from the same regiment were killed on the same day and are listed as missing.

These include Brenda Clayton's grandfather, Harry Miller.

[Brenda] I knew he'd been killed in action.

I knew he had no known grave.

Where was he?

I'm returning to see how the team are getting on.

-[Davina] Hi, Nicola.

-[Nicola] Hi.

So, have we got any more clues as to who might have died with Ablett?

So, I've been looking at the War Diary of the 11th Northumberland Fusiliers, and on the day that Ablett was killed, there were a number of men that were also killed, um, and it looks like they were with Ablett when they died.

It's quite interesting, because they weren't actually fighting a particular action on that day.

They were just in the frontlines in the trenches, probably just doing, you know, every-- everyday stuff.

So, it would have been a complete surprise, shock?

Yeah, exactly.

And they would have obviously had artillery flying into the trenches throughout their time there, but, you know, this-- this was just another day -in the trenches for them.

-Another day.

Mm.

I've been looking at their family trees, um, doing lots of research on them, and, you know, just generally feeling like I'm really starting to get to know them.

They're young men in their 20s from the Northumberland area, and one of the men that I've got on my list to test is Harry Miller.

[gasps] I mean, that would be so amazing, because Brenda, his granddaughter, has wondered what happened to him for so long.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, we're going to go to the family to get a DNA sample to see if-- if we can make a match.

From Brenda?

We're not actually gonna use Brenda's DNA.

Um, it's a bit complicated for the way DNA works.

The DNA we're looking for runs down the maternal line.

So, when you look at the family tree, you can see Brenda's maternal line goes through Annie, her mother, and then Melita, her grandmother... -Ah... -...who actually married Harry, not related to him.

So, what we do is, we've gone along Harry's line, and we've looked at one of his sisters, Mary, and we've gone down her line to Dulcie, and then finally to Elizabeth, otherwise known as Libby.

So, could Brenda's grandfather Harry be one of the men who died with Ablett?

And can DNA solve Brenda's lifelong mystery?

[keyboard clicking, bugles sounding] It's 8 p.m. at the Menin Gate, and, as every evening for almost a hundred years, a wreath is laid, and the Last Post rings out to honor the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

Nearly half a million British and Commonwealth service personnel are still lost.

The families of these young men never got to bury them or mark their graves.

But for the families of nine soldiers of the Northumberland Fusiliers, missing for over a hundred years and found lying together in a trench, hope is at hand.

[Nicola] Every single one of these soldiers, they were somebody's son, they were somebody's brother, they were somebody's husband.

2nd Lt. Leslie Wallace Ablett has already been identified.

Now, an investigation is underway to test the men from the 11th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers who died on the same day.

And the next on the list is Private Arnold Sanderson.

23-year-old rail worker Sanderson left behind his parents and six sisters when he set off for France in 1914.

[keyboard clicking] The War Detectives have tracked down Sanderson's great-niece, Jackie Golding, and she's agreed to do a DNA test.

[Jackie] That's a picture of Arnold.

And he looks so young.

He's my great-uncle, and Ivy, my Nana, was his sister.

It started a conversation in our family again about him.

Where he was-- all the photos and things were just in a box, put away in a cupboard.

We came across this photograph, and, um, it's Arnold with the rest of his comrades.

That's him, on the end.

And it's as though they've been photographed with some local people, so, a village in France that they were at.

They've obviously been made welcome by them.

It does make you wonder, did they know when they joined up what they were gonna be facing?

Jackie has an extraordinary letter from an officer at the front to Arnold's parents.

It says: "Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson, it is with deep regret that I have to inform you of the death of Private A.

Sanderson."

He was killed by a shell on the morning of the 15th of October.

He died beside his officer for who he was a runner.

He was thought of a great deal by my officers.

A good soldier, and he always did his duty."

Gosh.

You just can't imagine what his parents were feeling when they got this.

Just reading it makes me fill up and be upset, but... must have been so hard for them, which is probably why my Nana didn't talk about him, because it was too upsetting.

There's also a letter here from the Regiment.

"He performed most useful work during the advance by constantly keeping his officer in touch with the units on either flank, and also in collecting stragglers."

Oh, so he picked up people on the way.

And that's why he was awarded the Military medal, which is there.

It's so sad that he's been laid in the ground for a hundred years in a field.

And that his parents didn't-- couldn't go to a funeral.

They couldn't-- they didn't have a body to come home.

It's so sad.

Oh, it would be fantastic if it was him, so that he can have a proper burial and-- sounds-- sounds silly to say "laid to rest," but for us all to know where he is.

[Nicky] Jackie's letter suggests Sanderson was killed in the same attack as Ablett.

So, to try and identify him, her DNA is sent to a leading forensic laboratory for processing.

[keyboard clicking] It will be compared to the DNA from the bodies which are currently housed in a mortuary in France, to see if there's a match.

-Hi, Dom.

How are you doing?

-Hello.

Very well, thanks.

So, you've been looking at the casualties found in Belgium.

What we do as anthropologists is we estimate the age, the sex, the ancestry, and the height of all of them.

And then, as a whole, you get a biological profile.

So, how do we ascertain how old an individual might be from their bones?

We look at a number of areas of the skeleton.

Most of them do change over time as we get older.

So, when you're born, your skull is in lots of different bones, and then, as you get older, they fuse together.

So, the sutures on this skull, which is the little squiggly lines, their development gives you an indication of age.

And the age of the soldiers is...?

The age ranges are in the early 20s, late teens, possibly.

There's a few of them that do reach the early 30s.

And, of course, height and age, they are recorded in individual soldiers' war records, aren't they?

Exactly, yeah.

And then, that'll be followed up by DNA.

But we're looking at casualties here over a hundred years old.

How easy is it to get the DNA?

Yeah, the older the bone is, the more difficult it gets.

So, teeth, although they're not bone, uh, they do house the DNA very well.

As long as there's no dental decay or dental restorations in there, then, um, and it's a nice, solid tooth, then DNA should be fine from there.

We take a couple of DNA samples from the casualties, bring them back to the labs, and get those DNA profiles from them.

Um, and then, of course, we'll need DNA samples from their living relatives.

[keyboard clicking] [Davina] As the first DNA comparisons start to come back, I've come to Alnwick Castle, which has a historic association with the Northumberland Fusiliers.

I'm meeting Tracey from the Ministry of Defence here.

-[Davina] Hi.

-Hi, Davina.

...to share the DNA results with the relatives.

-Lovely to see you.

-And you too.

So, how's it been going?

Quite well.

In fact, really well.

We've had some good positive results, but, sadly, we've also had some negatives.

-[Davina] Oh.

-Yeah.

And one of those, actually, is Jackie, Jackie Golding.

Her result against, um, Private Sanderson came back as a negative.

That's really sad.

'Cause, you know, she had all those amazing photos and the letter from the front.

But it doesn't mean to say that this isn't Private Sanderson.

We needed to have another look at the genealogy, and we've taken another sample from another family member, and that is positive.

So, we have identified Private Sanderson.

So, you have identified Arnold Sanderson, but he is not a blood relative of Jackie's?

No.

That's correct.

The story of Jackie's great-uncle, heroic runner Private Sanderson, has been passed down through her family for generations.

We've got to break the news to her that the results are conclusive.

But there was a family secret that she never knew.

-[Davina] Hi, Jackie.

-Hi, Davina.

-How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

Take a seat.

-It's lovely to meet you.

-[Jackie] And you.

[Davina] So, this is Tracey.

She's from the Ministry of Defence.

What do you know about Arnold Sanderson's time in the war?

The only thing I knew was that my mum had his medals, and that they were passed down through the family.

And I remember being very young, about 7 or 8, when we did a project at school, and she let me take the medals to school to show the teachers and the children.

I felt really proud to show them, but I didn't really know what they were for.

Since we've been looking at photos of him and the letters, I feel like I do know him, that I have known him, um, and that's really special.

-And it's making me cry again.

-[Davina] Aww.

So, Jackie, the DNA test that you'd given us actually came back inconclusive.

Right.

So, we actually had to find another, um, family relative to do another test, and that test has actually come back as a positive.

-Oh, my God!

-So we have actually identified Private Arnold Sanderson.

-Oh, that's lovely.

-[Tracey] Yeah.

-[Davina] Aww... -I'm sorry.

-Oh... -[Davina] It's good, isn't it?

It is, it's lovely.

I promised I wasn't gonna cry.

That's fantastic.

-How does that make you feel?

-I can't get over it.

-Relieved... -[Davina] Mm.

...that he's been found, um, and he's not laid in a field somewhere on his own.

That he can finally be laid to rest.

[Davina] Mm-hmm.

-Oh, God!

-It's amazing, isn't it?

[Jackie] It is amazing.

[Davina] Mm.

It's brilliant.

While Tracey was doing her detective work, she did uncover something else, bit of a sort of twist to the plot, that you do need to know.

Right.

Um, so, Jackie, your grandmother Ivy... -[Jackie] Mm-hmm... -What we found out, actually, that Ivy was not, um, biologically related to Arnold.

She was actually his step-sister, not his blood sister.

So, they weren't genetically related.

I don't know if you're aware of that?

-No.

-[Tracey] No.

So, this is the marriage certificate of Ivy's mum... -[Jackie] Mm-hmm.

-...to Arnold's father.

And, actually, Ivy was born two years before they got married.

-Right.

-So, Ivy came to that family as a 2-year-old, and she was brought up as part of that family.

Right.

[Jackie] It doesn't make any difference.

It's like our family history.

And they were family.

They were.

One big family.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, I just can't wait to tell my brother and sister, because they won't know none of this.

Hearing the fact that he's been identified means the world.

We can finally have him laid to rest, and we know where he is.

DNA results have also come back for Harry Miller.

His granddaughter, Brenda, has come to Alnwick Castle, where some of the Northumberland Fusiliers trained before the First World War.

She's meeting her cousin Libby for the first time.

-Libby!

-Hello.

You must be Brenda.

Libby's DNA was taken in the hope of identifying Harry.

-Thank you for this.

-Oh, no.

Thank you for your giving the DNA.

It's unbelievable.

This is an important time, and it must be especially for yourself.

Yeah.

I've got, um, a picture of my grandfather with his wife, Melita.

-And who's this?

-And baby George.

Just as he was ready to go... -When he went off to war.

-...to war.

And his wife died almost straight after that photograph.

Good grief.

So, who looked after all the children?

-Their grandmother.

-Wow!

-[Brenda] It's so sad.

-Yes.

[Brenda] Yeah.

-[Davina] Hello.

-Hello.

-[Davina] Come and sit down.

-[Libby] Thank you.

So nice to meet you.

Hi, Brenda.

-Thank you.

-This is amazing.

[Davina] I know!

What a place to meet.

Isn't it fantastic?

So, we took DNA, as you know, and we have got the results in, and it is conclusive.

-Really?

-Um, the soldier found amongst the others was Harry Miller.

Oh, that's wonderful.

What does that mean to you?

Everything.

A long-- a long, uh, search through history to find Harry.

-It's unbelievable.

-[Tracey] Mm.

And you really had kept his memory alive, hadn't you?

-Absolutely.

-You've done so much work.

Absolutely.

For-- for my mother's sake.

Um, he was killed when she was so small, that she didn't know him, really.

She was very emotional, particularly Remembrance Day... [Davina] Mm.

...and, um, she would watch the services on TV in silence, and I could see what she was thinking.

[Davina] I hope we can bring you some kind of solace -with this news today... -Yeah, it has.

...that he will be able to be buried in a named grave... -Yeah.

-...with full military... -Full military honors.

-...honors.

And to be alongside his comrades, I always think that's such a special thing to know -that he can be with... -We always think that if they died, they fought together, they should be buried together.

He was just one of thousands, I know that.

And just an ordinary farm laborer to start-- to set off to war, but to our family, he was very special.

[Tracey] Of course.

I often wondered, what happened that day?

Where... where is his body?

But now I know.

I know exactly where.

[Nicky] With three soldiers now confirmed, remarkably, positive results have also come in for another officer, 2nd Lt. Edward Bruty, and a sergeant, Thomas Feasby.

These men, aged between 20 and 32, fought together and died together, leaving behind wives, children, parents, and sweethearts.

But there are still four more men to identify, and back at HQ, the War Detectives have hit a wall.

[Nicky] Hi, Tracey.

Hi, Nicola.

[Nicola] Hi, Nicky.

So, it's brilliant that you've confirmed the identity of five of the soldiers.

What about the other four?

Sadly, we've been having quite a lot of negative results back, haven't we, Nicola?

Yeah, it's been, um, really disappointing.

Um, all the rest of the DNA tests that we've done for men that were killed on the same day as Ablett has all come back as negative at the moment.

But we know that these men died on the same day as Ablett at the same place, so why is it not them?

That's a really difficult question, Nicky.

It could be that, at the time, they were actually recovered and may already be buried as an unknown soldier somewhere.

We just-- we really don't know.

So we're gonna have to go back to the drawing board and have another look at our research and see how we can move forward with this.

[Nicky] And widen the search?

Yes, that's our plan.

We're going to look at the days before and after Ablett was killed, look at the men, um, from those days and take DNA samples from their descendants and see if we get any matches there.

The soldiers who've been identified will at last have their own marked graves, and their families have been invited to choose an inscription.

Ablett's relative Rachel has been looking through old family documents for inspiration.

[Rachel] What I have found are some very precious letters and poems that were written by, uh, by my great-great-grandmother, who was Leslie's aunt.

She wrote a poem to Leslie on obtaining his commission in 1916.

"Congratulations, nephew, on the commission you are getting.

The best wish I can send you is that it may prove a blessing."

I chose two lines from it.

"May God watch o'er and keep you safe, wherever you may be."

And that's going to be on his gravestone.

It is so strange thinking that when I got that email, I didn't know who he was, and now, he's become a big presence for me.

And I say a prayer for him every day.

Leslie is my family, he's our family, and...

I just feel privileged to be able to do what his parents couldn't do and see him buried properly and with respect and honor.

Whilst the War Detectives struggle to identify the remaining fallen soldiers, a date has been set for the funeral.

The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are preparing for one of the biggest ceremonies of this kind they've ever had to organize.

Don't just remain out of step.

Ensure that you will then get into step.

[captain] Every soldier has two families.

The first family is his regiment, the second is, if you like, biological family.

So, the regiment, the regimental family is always there.

It's important to us all that we get this right.

Our history, our traditions, our identity as soldiers is actually built on the actions and the behavior and the sacrifice of-- of those that have gone before us, including those nine soldiers.

[guns click in unison] Although they did die 103 years ago, we will bury them as if they'd been killed yesterday.

Alongside many other cases, the research over four years that's led to identifying five of the nine First World War soldiers found together in a trench, has made it one of the War Detectives' most difficult.

But now, after months of further DNA analysis, they've turned a corner.

So, you've had some more positive identifications?

Yes, it's really good news.

So, by widening our search either side of the date that Ablett died, we've managed to identify Stanley Blakeborough and also Joseph Patrickson.

[Nicky] Brilliant stuff.

That's seven of the nine men identified.

What about the other two?

Yeah, so we've now DNA-tested absolutely everybody that it could potentially be, um, and we've still got these two negatives.

So, I mean, one of the men was actually found slightly outside of the main group, so we do have our suspicions that he could be another regiment, could have been killed on a different date.

Um, we-- we just don't know at the moment.

So, what will happen to them?

So, the two unknowns will still be buried at the same time as the other seven.

Um, they would all be afforded a proper, dignified burial.

[keyboard clicking] [Davina] There are more than 8,000 servicemen who remain unidentified at this cemetery, and our two unknown soldiers will now join them.

Yeah, and that goes into the corner there.

They will be buried alongside their seven named comrades.

These men served together in the 11th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers and died within days of each other in October, 1917.

The coffin bearers are from the modern-day incarnation of their regiment.

I'm from there, Jarrow, South Tyneside, not far from County Durham where some of these lads were.

Doesn't matter if there's a century apart.

Doesn't matter if they're a thousand years apart.

They are my brothers out there.

To be able to come here and do this, I mean, carrying the coffin as well to put them to rest, I can't describe it in words.

I mean, it's been an absolute privilege to do this.

[Davina] Private Harry Miller's granddaughter Brenda is traveling to the ceremony from Yorkshire with her son Martin and cousin Linda.

[Brenda] The call-up came, and the men in the village rallied to the call.

They were proud, they were brave... but they had no idea what was going to happen, really.

It was almost like a pilgrimage to make that same long journey, and what was he thinking, making this journey with his comrades, heading into Europe?

Big unknown.

[man] We thought it was going to be a lovely little game, you know.

But it wasn't.

It was wicked.

Wicked.

[Davina] This ceremony means so much to so many people-- finally being able to honor these nine soldiers.

They never found their way home.

And they lay lost for over a hundred years.

But from today, their families will always know where they are.

And for relatives like Brenda, it's the end of a lifelong journey.

[Brenda] All my life, I have had this feeling that, one day, remains would be found.

And when I got the news, I just couldn't take it in.

26-year-old runner Private Arnold Sanderson was awarded a military medal for his bravery during the fighting.

His great-niece Jackie can't make it, so another great-niece, Sharon, has come in her place.

When you actually saw the soldiers carrying the coffins in, it became so real, um, that it was actually happening and that one of our relatives was actually in one of those coffins.

So, we come at this time to remember those who have given their lives for their country, who have made the greatest sacrifice.

[Rachel] It is a really necessary thing to bury him properly, to see him buried.

If I had lost my son in that way, I would hope that somebody in our family later on would do that for me.

[padre] We therefore commit their bodies to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

[officer yelling commands] [gunfire] [officer yelling commands] [soldier] Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

[all] We will remember them.

[playing bugle] [Brenda] I was focusing my mind on the photograph that I've looked at many, many times throughout my life, and wondered what sort of person he would be, had he survived.

[bugle playing] The most moving moment was when they presented the wreath on top of the folded Union Jack with the belt and cap.

[soldiers] Thank you.

[Brenda] I was just mesmerized.

[Sharon] You feel like you actually knew him.

Um, although we'd never met him, you just feel today that you really did.

Yeah, very emotional.

[laughs] I think I cried most of it.

Um, yeah, very, very emotional.

[Rachel] Now, all of our family, we know about him, and that memory will continue.

[Brenda] The fact that he's buried alongside his comrades is just really, really special, because they died together, and now, they're at peace together-- forever.

[sweeping music] [contemplative piano music playing] [peaceful music playing]