Unknown Soldiers Given Military Burial 100 Years After Deaths

One of the coffins being carried to the burial site (Picture: Crown Copyright).

Two unknown soldiers have been laid to rest more than 100 years after their death in World War One.

One of the men was identified as a Northumberland Fusilier, through artefacts found with his remains.

The second, however, was buried as an unknown soldier of an unknown regiment.

It is believed he also died during the Capture of La Boisselle in July 1916.

Both men were laid to rest on Tuesday by a burial party composed of members of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

The service took place at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Ovillers Military Cemetery, on the Somme in France.

Their remains were discovered in March 2015, within a ploughed field north of the village of La Boisselle.

It was an area known as Mash Valley during the Battle of the Somme (July 1916).

Louise Dorr from the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre confirmed neither could be identified, which, she said, was "a matter of great personal sadness."