Thanks to the science of DNA identification and the persistence of men like Lambis Englezos and Tim Whitford, at least 75 of the Missing Diggers of Fromelles now have their names back.

After 94 years languishing unknown and undiscovered in a series of burial pits dug by the Germans following the battle in July 1916, the Missing Diggers will at last have a dignified individual grave and at least 75 of them will have their names on their gravestones.

This will bring great comfort to their families, many of whom have waited for almost a century to finally discover the fate of their loved ones and to have a place where they can commemorate their sacrifice.

We should not forget that it has been the dogged persistence of Team Lambis (Lambis Englezos and his supporters in Australia and around the world) which has made this day possible.

Without the impetus of Team Lambis, the Missing Diggers and Tommies from the Battle of Fromelles would still lie jumbled and unsung in the damp mud of French Flanders.

Without Team Lambis, every day, the people of Fromelles – and the many visitors roaming the tragic killing fields there – would still have passed by Pheasant Wood, just below the town centre, without knowing that the Missing Diggers where lying there waiting to be recognised.

When you see “the great and the good” basking in the reflected glory of the reinterment ceremonies of the Missing Diggers, spare a thought for those who fought through the bureaucratic inertia and obfuscation to make sure they were discovered and identified – even though, at every turn, they were rebuffed and told that both goals were impossible dreams.