soldier in Somme trenches carrying a injured colleague

[tali1]

The stock footage of the soldier in Somme trenches carrying a injured colleague on his back - have they ever been identified?
http://wondersintheda...mme-2.jpg?w=500&h=375

[paddywak]

I've seen several articles and programs on this subject, and despite several families claiming that it is their ralation none of there claims have stood up, not only that but there is no indication as to where the film was actually shot. I've even articles doubting that it was an actual incident and was a staged shot. My personal opinion is that it's become such an iconic scene that it doesn't matter who or where it was it just seems to sum up the spirit of those lads in the trenches

[tali1]

Thanks for the answer - although to me it matters 100% who it was - that person was an individual he had a name - and a background

[paddywak]

Of course it matters tali and it would be great to know who he was,if he survived the war and if he did how he fared afterwards, unfortunately tens of thousands of men literally vanished into the mud of the Western Front and many of the bodies that were recovered were never identified. If you're ever in Belgium and get chance go to Ypre and have a look at the Menin Gate a memorial inscribed with the names of nearly 55,000 allied soldiers whose bodies were never found at 20.00hrs everything stops while men from the local fire brigade play the last post, and have done evey night since the 1900's apart from the time in WW II when the town was occuppied, it really brings home the amount of losses suffered. Still as I said my own opinion is that after all this time it would be wrong to identify him, as like the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, he whoever he was, has become a represenative off all the Tommies who served, whether they died and were never found or returned to their families

[Parsfan]

The photo appears in a book by Martin Middlebrook called "The First Day on The Somme". The captions says that the wounded man died shortly after the photo was taken. No indication as to who he was.