Recognising First World War veterans lying in unmarked graves
In older sections of many general and civil cemeteries, amidst towering monumental headstones and those less imposing, are grave plots conspicuous in the absence of a memorial or any form of marker that talks of the person at rest, or those who loved and mourned them.
Veterans returning from the First World War were aware of the unfolding welfare support being made available by Commonwealth Government in the years that followed. Nevertheless, many suffered without assistance, often estranged from their families, at the mercy of the Spanish Flu pandemic and the Great Depression.
Too many died without means or family present and were laid to rest in an unmarked grave.
George Thomas Wetzel’s father shared his letter with The South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register: ‘The eldest son writes from Malta Hospital, and informs me that he was wounded in one of the engagements after the landing at the Dardanelles, and he hopes soon to be in the firing line again.’
On 6 February 1926, George drowned while swimming at night in the Murray River at Renmark. Newspaper articles only stated that he was unmarried with one dependant, a good swimmer and had recently become unemployed. There was no mention of the service he had undertaken at Gallipoli, the shell that had exploded affecting his sight, the wife that is named on his enlistment papers or his parents.
The South Australian Headstone project team has been provided with funding through the Marking (First World War) Private Graves Grant Program to contribute to the cost of marking George’s grave. They are one of a number of groups and individuals who, with Government support, will recognise the service of 42 veterans at rest in private graves around the country.
Forty-two grants of $450 have been awarded in the first round of the program. The Repatriation Commission assessed all applications and also determined that 44 veterans who had been identified through this program were in fact eligible for official War Grave status and commemoration. Planning for the next round of the program is underway; please visit the DVA website for more information.
The unmarked grave of Private George Thomas Wetzel