The Lost Grave of Robert Thomson Barbour

Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, Authuille.  Source:  Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

In view of the fact that 100 years after the Great War that bodies of soldiers are still being identified and buried with a stone bearing their names, it should not be surprising that it might take fifteen years for the body of Private Robert Thomson Barbour to be located on the battlefields of France.   And while in present times it is a relief to members of families  of lost soldiers to be located and reburied, for families at the time it was an agony not to know the last resting place of their husbands and sons, as evidenced by the persistent inquiries made by members of Robert Barbour's family during those fifteen years.

Rod Martin tells the story of Robert Barbour's short months on the battlefield, and how he was buried, lost, and found again.