The body of an American World War One soldier who disappeared in 1918 and was found in 2003 in France, has finally been identified and given a proper burial attended by relatives, thanks to the work of a forensic scientist.
Archaeologists had discovered the body, alongside that of another soldier, during an excavation ahead of planned construction work near Soissons (Aisne).
They were identified as American based on the equipment that was with them.
The bodies were sent to a US military central identification laboratory (CIL) in Hawaii where Jay Silverstein, 65, an anthropologist, archaeologist and senior lecturer, worked at the time.
One body, Private Francis Lupo, was easily identified and given a burial as his name was embossed on his wallet and confirmed by DNA tests.
However, the second body proved more difficult.
“I was convinced that the identity of the second soldier was solvable, and I passed the case on to historians to do some research, without success.
“It was then passed to different departments, with archaeologists also saying they could not solve it,” Dr Silverstein told The Connexion.
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On the case
In 2018, the 100-year anniversary of the end of World War One, he revisited the case.
“This soldier was sitting on a shelf in a cardboard box and he deserved to be buried, so I took the case in my free time.
“The thought of him never being buried because someone was too lazy to sort it out bothered me,” he said.
Dr Silverstein knew where and when the unidentified soldier had died and where the soldier he was with had died.
He had seen a button on his uniform from the Washington state national guard and another button from the second regiment, and he also had the biological characteristics from the body itself.
He therefore narrowed down the search and found the battle the soldiers had died in.
He put together a list of five possible names through this method, but needed family members and military records to conclude his search.
He met a few administrative obstacles obtaining the military records but eventually managed to get his hands on them.
One soldier, Charles McAllister, had a very distinctive dental pattern which matched the jaw of the unidentified soldier.
“I then tracked down his great niece in Montana, which was emotional,” he said.
She did not initially pick up the phone, fearing it was a telemarketer.
“When she heard the name of her great uncle, she said wait a minute, went downstairs and came back up with a framed letter that she had saved, written by Charles McAllister before he shipped to France. It urged the recipient not to worry about him and that he would be okay. It brought tears to my eyes to hear his last account.”
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Tracking down living relatives
Dr Silverstein published his findings in a research journal, although the army refused to accept it.
However, they did manage to track down a separate family member from the male lineage, and could therefore confirm his identity biologically.
Charlie McAllister was finally buried in August this year, 106 years after his death. “Unfortunately, the grand-niece’s husband, who was very involved with the case, passed away from cancer last year. That is why I felt the case was urgent, because the surviving family members are not young, and it would be nice for them to see him put to rest,” said Dr Silverstein.
“Fortunately, other family members did see him laid to rest, and my sister and son, who is in the military, also managed to attend the funeral service.
“It was a great relief for me to solve this case and give him a proper burial with military honours.”
The two different sides of the family (the great-niece and the male descendant the army tracked down) did not really know each other before this case.
“It was a unifying family event, coming together in Seattle,” said Dr Silverstein.
“It was a big thing for Beverly, the great-niece, as it was a very emotional case. She had held onto his letter and framed it, so it was clearly a significant event in the family’s history.”
Unidentified bodies from World War One are rarely solved nowadays, but hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of soldiers have still not been unidentified or given a proper burial.
