THE great niece of a soldier who is believed to have died in a bloody First World War battle in France is still waiting on the result of a DNA test to confirm whether his body was discovered in a mass war grave.

The bodies of about 250 British and Australian solders who died in the Battle of Fromelles on July 19, 1916, were discovered in the graves near the village of Fromelles last year.

The first of the symbolic public reburials at the village in Northern France took place on January 30, with a further 30 burials to commence on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through February.

But despite DNA tests on the bodies, Great Kingshill resident Pam Hollins is still waiting for confirmation that the body of her great uncle Private Joseph William Simmonds was discovered.

The Cockpit Road resident says the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has kept her informed of the ongoing testing but she is now eager to pay her respects to the war hero.

She said: “They're still in the process of doing the tests, we've had it confirmed he was in the battle but they haven't been able to identify his body yet and we would like to find out.

“His sister was my grandmother. I'm the only remaining bloodline to him as his two other sisters never married. The whole family came from Marlow.

“My grandmother never really talked about him, so I don't really know a great deal. I know my grandfather was in the same regiment in the same battle.

“And there is a big ceremony in July which the Queen is expected to attend, so I would like to go to that – I just want to be able pay my respects on behalf of the family.”

Records show Private Simmonds fought in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was 25 when he died in the battle.

The bodies of 84 of his battalion were never recovered after Allied commanders rejected a ceasefire to collect their dead, forcing German troops to hastily bury the bodies in mass graves.

He grew up in Oxford Road and was among 3,000 Allied troops slaughtered in the doomed offensive - which was meant to draw German reserves away from the Somme.

It is believed at least 19 of the dead could be men from the south Buckinghamshire area, including Lance Sergeant Frederick Lance, whose brother Charles was High Wycombe Mayor in 1946.

For more information on the project visit www.cwgc.org.uk/fromelles.