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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Sam McNeil

WWI soldier's postcard from home helps unite his family after a century

Belgium WWI Soldiers Burial - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A postcard belonging to a World War I soldier whose body was found with five comrades during an excavation has helped reunite distant descendants more than a century after his death on the Western Front.

Dozens of mourners attended a memorial service in western Belgium on Wednesday during which six new white marble headstones were dedicated to the British soldiers whose remains were recently identified through the use of archival research and DNA analysis.

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