[Julian]

Very interesting point now Ive always felt that the disturbance of a grave should only be done for furthering knowledge about that person,or type of object they may be contained in ie crashed aircraft, submarine or ship, event or period of history. Human curiosity is the other issue as well as respect for the dead. However one must put this into perspective...for it is surely the passing of time that softens raw emotions and allows certain graves to be disturbed. No-one bats an eye-lid when Anglo Saxon cemeteries full of sword and axe scarred skeletons are excavated from periods of up to 1500 years ago...softened no doubt also by the museum cabinets crammed full of fascinating resultant artefacts. Commercial TV is often the only way for researchers to be able to fund excavations and on the whole I find all such TV ventures so far to be acceptable. Just look at some of the incredible TV programmes in last 25 years......bringing home unbelievable history to masses of the general public who are fascinated by such events...therefore bringing home increased awareness often of far off historically neglected battle zones and to some degree re-inforcing the "We shall not forget" values. Now Im not religious, but if we have souls I believe we can be fairly well assured that they have long departed these ancient to fairly modern battle scenes. Whilst I advocate the highest respect should be paid to Human remains at all times without exception...however the dry or soaked bones of fallen heroes is all that they are now,...the screams, suffering gasping of last breaths, the hot sticky feel of blood drenched wounds on coarse uniforms, the sheer terror of impending death..... have gone. But very often the disturbance and study of these bones reveal huge amounts of valuable information...Often the disturbance of such remains professionally and for research purposes brings to light awareness that in itself creates a meaning to their tragic and terrible loss. In Britain there is a recent awareness of what is called the "Exhaustible Resource" ranging from buried ancient coins and objects to a buried Spitfire...trouble is this philosophy has created the appearance in several official and non-official organisations of self-elected custodians of our heritage....this is fine where architecural preservation is involved, but buried heritage (particularly that involving metallic structures) has a rather nasty knack of suffering from the effects of corrosion...so failure to excavate and learn occurs... whilst also condemning our heritage to an absolute irretrievable state of loss. I just hope in 200 years time archaeologists will not be saying "why did they not rescue and conserve more when they had the chance? just look at the state of things now.... all World War Two shipwrecks, sunken tanks and aircraft are now areas of iron enriched corrosion deposits and all the Human bones have long dissolved". Condemning our now recoverable and irreplaceable heritage should not be subjected to moral qualms...I feel certain every missing person, mass buried soldier and forgotten airmen would much rather we "find them" to remember than pansy around whilst our heritage dissolves...Just look at Fromelles and the marvellous work the researchers and excavators have done...tracing relatives via DNA of otherwise forgotten clay stained skeletons with shreds of uniform , shrunken leather boots and the odd corroded unit badge. Its not sensationalism..its really fascinating stuff and whether for TV or not all those involved in recovering and excavating Human remains must never be ignorant of the fact that in some cases they provide "closure" for families who may have sought answers for decades....Ive been personally involved in this on several occasions and the thankfullness, support and tears of the Next of Kin of these brave persons have humbled me to such a degree...that this line of research simply cannot be wrong!!...Jules