The story of 22-year-old David George Irvin is a heart-rending tale that was once a tragic mystery to his family.
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One of seven young Bemboka men who departed to Sydney to enlist in 1915, his whereabouts were unknown to all until his DNA was found in a mass grave in Fromelles, France, in 2009.
David’s nephew Roy married a 19-year-old Kenyan named Rosemary who would spend the next 47 years in Bemboka watching the mystery of the lost soldier unravel before her eyes.
“All we knew was his shoulder was patched up then he was sent over towards German territory,” Rosemary told the Bemboka Anzac Day crowd.
The battle in July of 1916 was one of Australia's greatest military disasters with over 5000 killed within hours.
David was first reported wounded in the battle on July 20 and his family was advised by telegram nearly three weeks later.
“Finally in 1917 David was officially reported as wounded and missing in France but it would appear that the authorities failed to inform the family of this development.”
His grave was one of thousands never found until DNA was tested 93 years later.
Rosemary and her sister-in-law Joan traveled to the Fromelles Military Cemetery along with a dozen other Irvin family members for the unveiling of David’s newly marked grave in July 2010.
“Unfortunately my husband passed away in 2008 before they identified him in the mass grave.”
