WWI hero to receive military burial after 108 years thanks to DNA

By Jack Fifield and Simon Pizzey via SWNS

A hero soldier from World War I will finally be laid to rest later this year with his proud descendants in attendance after DNA tests proved his identity.

Lieutenant James Allan died aged just 20 on the first day of the infamous Battle of Loos on Sept. 25, 1915.

An official report later said the officer of the 9th Gordon Highlanders was "last seen rallying some infantry in a most gallant manner."

His body lay undiscovered for 108 years until it was found by builders working on the construction of a new hospital in Lens, France.

War records and the discovery of buttons from his battalion led researchers to believe the remains could belong to Lt. Allan, who came from Edinburgh, Scotland.

In December 2023, Lt. Allan's great-nephew Nicholas Allan, 55, was shocked to receive a letter from the Ministry of Defense asking him to provide a DNA sample following the surprise discovery.

He was told he could be one of 14 possible descendants to soldiers killed in the area.

A year later, in January 2025, the chef, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was called and told that his DNA was a match – the remains were of his great-uncle.

Nicholas said: “I was completely blown away, it stopped me in my tracks and it woke me up from the every day, getting on with your job and worrying about whether I’ve got enough in the bank to pay the next bill.

“It took me out, and I went ‘wow, I’ve got roots going back 110 years ago to the First World War.’

“The hairs on my back started to rise, I was gobsmacked. It completely changed my whole outlook in that moment, I was awake to a different relationship to just being a guy running a cafe.”

A letter, written by a Private George Ferguson and addressed to the fallen officer’s parents, dated January 1, 1916, says he was “lying on his stomach very peaceful looking” following his death in the trenches.

The private, who was taken prisoner by the Germans, goes on to describe the sky as ‘raining bullets’, during the bloody battle.

In James’ last letter home, to his elder sister Margaret, postmarked August 4, 1915, he wrote that the ‘uselessness’ of the war had been impressed upon him and asked his family to send him some matches.

Nicholas says his own family members didn’t really talk about their fallen ancestor, who was sent to war while he was in his second year of university studying Arts.

He added: “I remember as a little 12-year-old, my dad taking me to Edinburgh Castle, to the memorial plaque of those who had passed.

“He said, ‘look, that’s your great uncle.’ I only clocked ‘oh, it’s a relative and he died in the Great War.’

“I didn’t have the presence of mind as a little boy to ask ‘oh, who is he?’

“My grandfather, Nimmo, was 18 when his brother was killed.

“He survived the war, but never spoke about his elder brother. I think at that time and in that period, people didn’t speak about the great war very much.

“It was very much a cultural thing. The culture of those times was ‘you just get on with your life, and those who have gone, have gone.”

According to the National Army Museum, the Battle of Loos saw 50,000 British casualties, almost double the number of German losses, and was the first time the British Army used gas as a weapon.

In September this year, 110 years after his death, Lt. Allan will be laid to rest in Lens, with full military honors.

To pay tribute to their Great Uncle’s memory Nicholas and his younger brother Christopher plan to wear kilts to the event made from one of 16 possible Allan tartans.

Nicholas said: “Although the Brits outnumbered the Germans, the Germans were far more organized and they just had very good machine gun positions, and just mowed them down.

“They kept on being sent out. It was a classic scenario in the First World War, where these guys were literally sent over the trenches into bloody machine gun fire, it was just kind of nuts.”