Over 100 years on since the Battle of Verdun , one of the bloody conflict of World War One , scientists have pieced together the identity of a fallen French soldier using desoxyribonucleic acid sampling from his congener .
The soldier has now been lay to rest in his own grave at Douaumont memorial in Verdun , French newspaperLe Figaroreports .
Sergeant Claude Fournier was killed in combat on August 4 , 1916 at the historic period of 35 . During grammatical construction employment at Douaumont memorial in 2015 , construction workers institute a collection of boots , bayonets , bullets , helmet , a articulatio coxae flaskful of mint liqueur , and the skeletons of three men .
Crucially , they also unearth a dog tag end belonging to Claude Fournier , which sparked the researchers to attempt to identify the body of the untried sergeant .
" There are a whole series of pocket-size miraculous circumstances [ that allowed ] this beautiful story , " Bruno Frémont , a aesculapian examiner in Verdun , toldAFP .
They set about by trawling through military records in the hopes of finding a clue that linked the skeleton to the name , but to no help . Eventually , they wangle to track down Fournier ’s 75 - year - old grandson , Robert Allard , as well as an anonymous woman in her 80s who was also a relation . Using these two relatives , scientists were able to key out which of the three skeleton belong to Fournier .
" Scientifically and historically , it ’s a achiever , " Frémont tell AFP . " On the human grade , this is brilliant for Robert Allard , who will now have a grave for his grandfather . "
Claude Fournier was bear on November 27 , 1880 , in Colombier - en - Brionnais , easterly France . As a jr. human , he worked as a nurseryman in Lyon and then enlist in the army in 1900 . When war was declare between the Allies and the Central Powers of Europe in 1914 , he served in the frontline deep along the Western Front .
He fight in theBattle of Verdun , one of the tumid and tenacious battles of the First World War , as well as being one of the bloodiest battles in the whole of human history . Ultimately , it claimed the lives of 300,000 citizenry over a stop of 303 days .
On February 2018 , on the button 102 days since this frightening struggle begun , Claude Fournier was laid to quietus at Douaumont monument with full military honor .
While Fournier is the first French WW1 soldier to be identified using DNA , researchers have hound the personal identity of at leastfour British WW1 soldiersusing genetic grounds . Just like Fournier , they were also give an official burial ceremonial .
