Two Australian WWI Soldiers Identified via DNA a Century After Their Deaths

The Australian Department of Defence announced on April 28, 2026, the identification of two previously unknown Australian WWI soldiers using DNA analysis and historical research, bringing the total number of Australians identified from WWI remains to well over 200. Second Lieutenant Duncan McKenzie of Kerang, Victoria, served with the 38th Battalion and was killed on October 12, 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). He had been buried as an unknown soldier at Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Belgium. His identity was confirmed through elimination of other candidate matches and the discovery of new genealogical evidence. Private Roy Martin of Cobar, New South Wales, was killed at the Battle of Fromelles on July 19–20, 1916 — one of the bloodiest single battles in Australian military history. His remains were among 250 Australians exhumed from a mass grave at Pheasant Wood in 2009, and he had been reinterred as an 'Unknown Australian Soldier' in 2010. DNA analysis conducted in collaboration with the Fromelles Association of Australia confirmed his identity; Private Martin will receive a new named headstone at a ceremony planned for the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles in July 2026. The Australian Defence Force has now formally identified 181 of the 250 soldiers recovered from the Fromelles mass grave, one of the largest WWI forensic identification operations ever undertaken.