Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Reginald Theodore Griffen, 32nd Battalion. A clerk ...

Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Reginald Theodore Griffen, 32nd Battalion. A clerk from Riverton, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he was commissioned prior to embarkation with the 5th Reinforcements from Adelaide aboard HMAT Shropshire on 25 March 1916 for Egypt. His battalion relocated to the Western Front, France, in June 1916. 2nd Lt Griffen was reported as missing in action on 20 July 1916 during the Battle of Fromelles and was subsequently confirmed to be killed in action on that date. He was aged 24 years. After the war his grave could not be located and he was commemorated on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France. In 2008 a burial ground containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers was located at Pheasant Wood, France. The soldiers died during the Battle of Fromelles on the night of 19-20 July 1916 and were buried by German troops. In 2010 all of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six Australians had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Since then other Australians, including 2nd Lt Griffen, have been identified. His brother, Private Oswald Clement Griffen, 50th Battalion, was killed in action at Noreuil on 2 April 1917. (See P09291.052)