Two Australian WWI heroes are finally laid to rest in France after they died side-by-side 100 years ago – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Two Australian WWI heroes are finally laid to rest in France after they died side-by-side 100 years ago




Image source: The Australian

Two Australian WW1 heroes have finally been laid to rest together more than 100 years after they died side-by-side in a trench in World War I.

More than 200 people attended the funeral of Australian Imperial Force soldiers Lance Corporal James Leonard Rolls and Private Hedley Roy MacBeth at the Queant Road Cemetery, near Buissy, in northern France on Monday.

The two men tragically died side-by-side in the trenches after it took a direct hit from a German shell during the Second Battle of Bullecourt on May 3, 1917.

Lance Cpl Rolls left behind his wife Emily and two-year-old daughter Laura, while Pte MacBeth never returned to wife Bessie, nine-year-old daughter Mary and five-year-old son Robert.

Governor-General Peter Cosgrove said that their bodies laid under the mud for years waiting to be discovered but have finally been laid to rest.

RIP.

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