Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, today announced that recently identified human remains of Australian soldiers killed during World War II will soon be laid to rest in Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG). “The remains were recovered from the battlefields around Buna, Sanananda and Popondetta and have been identified by an Army investigation team,” Mr Combet said.

“An Army team positively identified two of the men from archived Army records. They were Lieutenant Talbot Tim Logan of the 2/12 Australian Infantry Battalion, and Lance Sergeant James Garrard Wheeler of the 2/1 Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. “Lieutenant Logan was killed near Buna on 1 January 1943 and Lance Sergeant Wheeler was killed near Sanananda on 1 December 1942. Lieutenant Logan and Lance Sergeant Wheeler will be buried, with full military honours at Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby, PNG on 1 December 2009."

“The bodies of both men lay buried in temporary battlefield graves until discovered. The Army investigation team undertook painstaking research over several months before the identities of the two men were able to be determined. The families of both men have been informed of their identification and are now receiving support from the extended Army family through the Defence Community Organisation. The Army team’s findings are the result of painstaking investigation, including the use of DNA, and represent almost a year’s work. I thank them for their hard work and dedication,” said Mr Combet.

“These men can now be laid to rest alongside their mates and their burial places formally registered after all these years. There were two further sets of remains which the team has been unable to identify. They will also be respectfully buried alongside Lieutenant Logan and Lance Sergeant Wheeler with a headstone marked “Known Unto God”.

A further four sets of remains currently in the custody of the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby are believed to be those of Japanese soldiers who died of unknown causes during World War II. Arrangements are currently being made to hand these remains to the Japanese Embassy in Port Moresby so they can also be afforded a dignified reinterment.