The Lost Diggers come home
Go to story details, photos, and video
ROSS COULTHART: In the midst of the horror of the war to end all wars, thousands of Australian diggers came to the village of Vignacourt to have their pictures taken by a pretty French photographer.
Actress: Everybody smile.
Rolf Harris: I'll tell you what's the nice thing about the photographs is that you can see all those Aussie guys slaphappy and casual as you like and discipline seems to have gone out the window and, you know, lighting up and pouring drinks and hat on a jaunty angle and you think to yourself, "Yeah, good on you."
Actress: Hurry up.
ROSS COULTHART: Her name was Antoinette Thuillier and her photos of Australian soldiers on the Western Front are being lauded as one of the most important finds of World War I.
ROSS COULTHART: Nearly 100 years on, why is it still such an emotional pull for you and for so many other people?
Rolf Harris: Well, you just want to, in a way, you want to thank them for their sacrifice. You want to commend them for their bravery. You want to put your arm around them and say, "Thank you for that", you know.
ROSS COULTHART: Well this is the town of Vignacourt that's coming up ahead here. It was about 30km behind the front-lines in 1918. Among the Australian soldiers who fought here were Rolf Harris's dad and uncle - brothers Crom and Carl.
Rolf Harris: Dad was 18, Carl was 16. And they thought, "What a great adventure", so Dad put his age up to 21 so that he could vouch for the fact that his 16-year-old brother was 18 and old enough to join up.
ROSS COULTHART: 16?
Rolf Harris: 16.
ROSS COULTHART: He wasn't that much older than you.
Marlin: Really?
Rolf Harris: No. He is about a year older than you.
Rolf Harris: A year older?
ROSS COULTHART: Marlin is Rolf's grandson and together with his 81-year-old grandpa, they're on a journey back to the time this part of France was under siege from the Germans. The reason why Vignacourt was so useful to the Brits was because it had this railway line. So they'd bring the troops that were injured on the train and bring them in to the field hospital here. And, of course, sadly, if they didn't make it, they buried them in the cemetery over here.
Sings: # Two little boys Had two little toys # Each had a wooden horse... #
ROSS COULTHART: The story of Crom and Carl is eerily evocative of the song Rolf made famous.
Warriors both, of course... #
ROSS COULTHART: Two brothers, best mates, but serving in different units.
In 1918, they were defending the line against a German advance.
Rolf Harris: Crom was in a section here and then two sections down was Carl's mob, you know, a couple of miles further away on the front-line, Germans over there.
ROSS COULTHART: So they were literally within walking distance of each other?
Rolf Harris: Yeah, but they never knew. They had no idea where the other was. And this is the town that Carl and Crom fought to defend.
Rolf Harris: And, ah...The loss of life on the Australian side was just horrendous, you know. 45,000-odd troops and you think of that number, 45,000 men slaughtered.
Rolf Harris: That's my father's helmet.
ROSS COULTHART: Rolf's dad was horrifically injured after shrapnel pierced his helmet.
Rolf Harris: That helmet was found about 100 yards away from where he was.
Marlin: Did he have any brain damage?
Rolf Harris: They - it smashed through the skull and he was - they did some surgery and put a metal plate in his skull...
Marlin: Kind of a miracle, isn't it? ..which was very good for that sort of time.
ROSS COULTHART: Crom was evacuated to a field hospital in Vignacourt. What he didn't know is that his brother Carl was also there and even more seriously wounded.
Rolf Harris: He had a shrapnel explode on his knee, basically, and just shattered that whole leg and they got him to the hospital, the same hospital as my dad.
ROSS COULTHART: Your dad is lying in a bed and he's seriously wounded and he doesn't know, does he, that his brother was..? He doesn't know that Carl is dying just up the corridor.
Rolf Harris: Carl never made it and my dad came around and he never really knew that Carl was in the same hospital until long after.
ROSS COULTHART: When did he find out?
Rolf Harris: Do you know, I don't know. He - he would never speak about this horrific war.
ROSS COULTHART: Because they were the two little boys?
Rolf Harris: Yeah. And the last bit, you know, "Did you think I would leave you dying?"
Did you think I could leave you dying?
There's room on my horse for you. #
Rolf Harris: That's very moving.
Climb up here
Joe would soon be flying... #
Rolf Harris: My favourite auntie, Auntie Pix, she said to me, "When that song of yours comes on the radio, "I have to switch it off - "it just reminds me so much of Crom and Carl." They were really close, great mates and loving brothers. We never met, Carl, but that was for you.
ROSS COULTHART: But while Carl and so many young men did not survive, these extraordinary photographs did.
Rolf Harris: Some of them just come out from the trenches and a bit of rest and recovery in Vignacourt and then, while they're there, they get some shots taken by this very glamorous lady photographer and they all seemed to be totally at ease with her.
ROSS COULTHART: Rare photos of Aboriginal diggers, larrikins at play. And not just Australians but thousands of British, Americans, Indian and French troops. A priceless collection and so close to being lost forever.
ROSS COULTHART: Well, it's been months of negotiations and months of waiting for this box to arrive. But finally, the lost diggers have come home. Let's have a look.
ROSS COULTHART: Every glass plate has been painstakingly cleaned and scanned revealing often incredible detail. For thousands of Australian families, it will be an opportunity to put a face to a loved one's name.
ROSS COULTHART: How important would it be for you if you could find a photo of Carl or Crom in those images?
Rolf Harris: Oh, that had never occurred to me. Oh, wow. Because they were here, weren't they?
ROSS COULTHART: We know that their battalion was in Vignacourt.
Rolf Harris: So they could have been - come in before that big final battle and had their photos...Oh, that would be amazing to find that.
Man: We got a match.
ROSS COULTHART: High-tech facial recognition software will now help Rolf and many others in their detective work.
Man: Got two matches. This is from the family and there he is up there and here, same position at the top.
ROSS COULTHART: Among the 4,000 glass plates, an exciting discovery.
At the very moment of peace, Australian soldiers celebrating the end of the war in Vignacourt's town square.
Laurent Mirouze: It's a very joyous moment. The soldier, the digger, they survived. For the local population, this is the end of this misery, of this sadness. Everybody is happy, everybody is smiling. All these guys, they are watching something. French historian Laurent Mirouze helped us track down the photos and the stories of the day the war ended.
Man: Great fun with the French people. My mate and I went to the church and climbed up to the steeple and hoisted the French and Australian flags.
Laurent Mirouze: You have two diggers climbing up the church to put the flag, French and Australian flag together.
ROSS COULTHART: So, what's happening here? They're looking up at the flags on the cathedral?
Laurent Mirouze: All these people are looking at the same direction at the same point and this point is on top of the church.
ROSS COULTHART: So it's this wonderful moment in history? It's pretty much the rarest image that you could think of from that conflict because apparently, there were no cameras on the Western Front allowed unless they were official photographers. This is a snapshot of the end of the war to end all wars.
Laurent Mirouze: Yes. Antoinette actually catch historical event of 11 November 1918.
Rolf Harris: Relief, blessed relief after these four years of unadulterated misery and death.
Man: Restraint was flung to the winds. The villages opened their cellars and wine flowed among the troops.
ROSS COULTHART: You can see there's a woman up here in the corner with her arm around a digger.
Laurent Mirouze: Yes.
ROSS COULTHART: He looks very happy.
Laurent Mirouze: Yes. Maybe this picture is telling a story. Maybe friendship or love story.
ROSS COULTHART: Love story? I like the sound of love story, myself.
Laurent Mirouze: Yeah.
ROSS COULTHART: Antoinette caught this happy day when Australian Harry Hartley married a village girl called Simone Piqor.
Laurent Mirouze: You have here the name of Harry Hartley.
ROSS COULTHART: Did he survive?
Laurent Mirouze: He survived the war and he stayed in the village after the war. Yes, love conquers war.
ROSS COULTHART: We've also found unique images of the moment Vignacourt and the Allies gathered to remember the dead.
Man: Bravest among the brave.
ROSS COULTHART: Does it give you any solace to think of Carl being described as among the bravest of the brave?
Rolf Harris: Who said that?
ROSS COULTHART: That was the Mayor of Vignacourt.
Rolf Harris: At the time?
ROSS COULTHART: At the time. in the days following Armistice Day, he described the Australians as the bravest of the brave.
Rolf Harris: Well, I know I went to a place not far away when I was last here. On the wall outside the school, in huge letters it says, "We will never forget the Australians". Well, that overwhelmed me when I saw it.
But I think that it's I remember # When we were two little boys. #
Rolf Harris: Jamais N'oublions les Australians - We will never forget the Australians, you know.
