David’s great niece recalls her mother talking about ‘Uncle Dave’ and remembering her mother and grandmother grieving and wondering what happened to their brother and son who went missing in France in World War 1. Conflicting reports meant that they never really knew what happened to him; whether he was taken prisoner or killed, or lost his memory and was living somewhere else. They hoped he would somehow come home one day.

David was born at Bergalia (near Moruya NSW) in 1891. David’s father, Joseph Anderson, managed his uncle’s Bergalia Estate but sadly died aged only 39 of typhoid fever in 1896.

With six young children aged 3 to 15 years, Joseph’s widow, Kissock, moved to Sydney where David continued his education and eventually served his apprenticeship with H. Grout & Co to become a manufacturing jeweller.

He served in the Scottish Rifles, was a keen footballer, played piano and was unofficially engaged to Esther Hamilton. David was described as tall with a solid build, and ‘firm chin’, and very popular.

Over the decades since his death, family members have kept his memory alive and treasured various pieces of memorabilia from David’s life. This includes a ring that he had made from a cufflink, a copy of the telegram and letter David’s mother received from the Army together with a medallion he was posthumously awarded after the war by King George V.

While current family members did not know David personally, the unresolved grief and sorrow was passed down the generations because there is no closure when someone is missing in action. Despite official reports by October 1917 that David had been killed in action at Fromelles in July 1916, the family could not give up hope that conflicting reports that he had been taken prisoner might still be true.

They continued their enquiries about his fate for some years and his mother suffered greatly not knowing what happened to him. In 2007, when family members heard about the mass grave at Fromelles, they were incredibly excited. There were prospects of possibly finding David!

The family actively followed progress, provided information and DNA and advocated for excavation of the mass grave to allow proper burial for the unidentified soldiers, hopeful that one of them might be their David. The first donor was found quite quickly but it took some time to find the second donor and finally in April 2014 the army could confirm a clear match and David was identified as being in the grave.

David’s great-niece, Jill Byrnes, described her reaction:

Eight family members across three generations travelled to France in July 2014 to represent the broader family for the ceremony to dedicate David's headstone at the Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery in Fromelles. Laurence Anderson reflected at the time on the pride and happiness he felt to have been part of the process to identify David and to see at last the places where family members - rarely spoken of in his childhood because of the pain of loss - fought and died. Jill Byrnes, David’s great niece, describes her feelings about the event:

Note- We acknowledge the efforts of Jill Byrnes in researching and writing the various articles on which this story is based. We also acknowledge the donor search undertaken by the Fromelles Association and the very happy and willing assistance of the broader family connections including the much-needed Y DNA family who were located on the South Coast of NSW, not too far from David’s birthplace.