DNA analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to the sailor Thomas Welsby Clark.
Australia has identified a legendary “unknown soldier”, the only body that was recovered after the sinking of the ship HMAS Sydney in a fight with the Germans in 1941 off the western coast of the country during World War II, official sources reported this Friday. .
DNA analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to sailor Thomas Welsby Clark, a young man from the Australian city of Brisbane who is believed to be the only crew member who managed to escape on a life raft from the wreck 80 years ago, according to a statement from the US Navy. Australia.
The remains of the sailor, who after managing to ride the raft perished on the high seas, were found almost three months ago on Christmas Island, near Indonesia and thousands of kilometers from the scene of the tragedy.
The identification of the remains of Clark, who died at 21 years of age, was made from the analysis of genetic samples taken in 2006, which allowed them to be linked after 15 years of research with two direct relatives who survived the heroic sailor.
Retired scholar Leigh Lehane expressed sadness to learn that her Uncle Tom – who came to know her as a newborn during her last visit to Brisbane – was the famous unknown soldier from HMAS Sydney, though she was also grateful that the truth about your identity”.
For his part, the Australian Minister of Veterans Affairs and Defense Personnel, Andrew Gee, stressed that this is a historic moment for his country.
“That we can finally know Tom’s name, rank, service number and hometown, eighty years after he disappeared, is truly remarkable,” said the minister in the statement in which he paid tribute to him and the sailors who “died defending Australia, its values and its way of life.”
The Australian ship HMAS Sydney sank on November 19, 1941 after intense combat with the undercover German merchant ship HSK Kormoran, about 222 kilometers west of the town of Steep Point, in the state of Western Australia.
“Of Sydney’s total crew of 645 men, none survived,” Vice Admiral Mike Noonan, Chief of the Australian Navy, explained in the statement. (I)
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