FROMELLES (PHEASANT WOOD) MILITARY CEMETERY
On Monday 1st September 2014 Stephen and I drove to Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, which is located in the village of Fromelles in the Nord/Pas de Calais region of Northern France, 104 km south east of Calais, and 22 km west of Lille.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website http://www.cwgc.org, Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery was completed in July 2010, and was the first new war cemetery to be built in the last fifty years by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A new information centre has been constructed at the site since our last visit in 2012.
There are 250 Australian and British soldiers buried in this cemetery, whose remains were removed in 2009 from some mass graves located behind Pheasant Wood, where they had been buried by the Germans after the Battle of Fromelles on 19-20 July 1916.
Joseph Patrick Wallis (Wailes), who gave his occupation on enlistment as seaman per his service record when he joined the Coo-ees at Dubbo, is the only Coo-ee buried in this cemetery. He was killed in action at the Battle of Fromelles on 20 July 1916.
The photograph below shows Joseph Patrick Wallis’ headstone (1st on left) at Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery.
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery (Photograph: H. Thompson 1/9/2014)
A photograph of the headstone on Joseph Patric Wallis’ grave will be placed on his individual blog entry, and form part of a Roll of Honour for the fallen Coo-ees on this blog.
His name is also recorded on the memorial wall at V.C. Corner Memorial and Cemetery.
1915 Coo-ee March 