The partial remains of Lance Corporal Patrick Duffy were lost for more than 100 years after being taken far from the French battlefield where he was fatally wounded.
They were discovered when the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library in Philadelphia disclosed last year it had partial WW1 human remains in its collection.
The 113 sets of remains had been collected from a military hospital in Le Tréport, France, and were transferred to the US for medical study in 1919, an accepted practice at the time.
Many belonged to casualties who were already buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery in France.
Lance Corporal Duffy, who grew up in Tapanui as one of 10 children of Michael and Lily Duffy, was one of those casualties.
During three years of war he was wounded and fell ill several times.
Then in October 1918, while serving in France, he sustained gunshot wounds to his head and left hand,
He died from his wounds on October 24 - less than three weeks before the end of the war.
His remains were reburied this month by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission alongside those of another New Zealand soldier Rifleman George James Tombs, the New Zealand Defence Force said.
Within a few hours, 843 New Zealanders were killed on the day, with the assault ultimately claiming the lives of more than 950 New Zealanders, including Rifleman Tombs.
He later became seriously ill as a result of his wounds, and almost two months after he was injured he died on December 6, 1917.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said in a statement it had contacted the families of these two soldiers.
Their partial remains were buried in their existing graves earlier this month by the CWGC team in France, in a private interment, attended by New Zealand’s Defence Attaché based in Belgium.
The NZDF would work with the families to determine whether a public ceremony will be held to further commemorate these men.
- Allied Media
