Unidentified WWI soldier buried with full honours

An unidentified soldier who served in the West Yorkshire Regiment during World War One has been buried more than a centuryafter his death.

The man's remains were discovered last winter to the south of the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme in France.

According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), his identity has never been confirmed, but a shoulder title and belt found near the remains indicated he served with the West Yorkshire Regiment.

The MoD said he was buried with full military honours at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Serre Road Cemetery Number Two in France on Wednesday.

The unknown soldier's remains were found on the edge of a field after it had been freshly ploughed, which, the MoD said, made it "impossible to fully understand the context of the find and to relate the artefacts to the soldier conclusively".

However, the shoulder title found nearby suggested the man had served in the West Yorkshire Regiment, which was only "strengthened by the presence of a belt with the letters WYR marked on it, also found near the casualty".

The MoD said: "An entrenching tool issued prior to July 1916 and first-issue webbing gave some clues as to when this soldier might have been equipped, but there was no clue as to his personal identity.

"The location of the discovery was immediately adjacent to the Leipzig Redoubt, and records of the West Yorkshire Regiment show that various battalions were tasked with capturing Thiepval, including the Leipzig Salient on 1 July 1916, and remained in the line in this area until 17 July, before revisiting the area again in August of the same year."

More than 1,000 men of the West Yorkshire Regiment are named on the Thiepval Memorial, having died between 1 July and 31 August 1916.

The MoD said a further 745 men of the same regiment died on other dates between September 1915 and March 1918, who also remain missing.

The MoD added with an "extensive" list of potential people, and "nothing in the way of artefactual evidence to point to his identity", it proved impossible to identify the man.

"Nonetheless, he gave his life in the service of his country, fighting for freedom and peace," they added.

"Whilst his identity remains known only to God, he was buried by a party from the Royal Yorkshire Regiment – his military family, with full military honours."

The service was organised by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and supported by serving soldiers of the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, as well as staff from the Common Wealth War Graves Commission.

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