Another five Australian soldiers killed in the battle have been identified and Maitland historian David Dial is hoping they include Sergeant William Wass of Pelaw Main and Private Claud Yeo from Singleton.

Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon says the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will erect new headstones with details of the identified soldiers, ahead of a July 19 dedication during the annual commemoration of the Battle of Fromelles.

If the two Maitland district men are among those identified they will join Private John Cyril Wynn, a 20-year-old labourer from Largs who enlisted with the 30th Battalion at Maitland, Private Claude Ward, 23, who enlisted in Newcastle, and originally may have been a drover working with cattle in the Hunter Valley, Private Harold John Bourke, of West Maitland, Private Matthew Hepple from Kearsley and Corporal Hassall Marsden Kendall, who now have marked tombstones.

Mr Dial said giving the men a final marked resting place was a fitting tribute for paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

He said Sergeant Wass was a highly decorated veteran of the Gallipoli campaign who had re-enlisted after being medically discharged with a fractured skull from a bullet wound suffered at the Battle of Lone Pine.

“He was injured on the first day, but maintained his post as a signaller for several days risking further injury by dashing out to reconnect wires to maintain the telephone line to head quarters,” he said.

“He won the military medal and was mentioned for dispatches for his actions.”

The Diggers’ remains, at Pheasant Wood in France, are among those of 250 Australian and British soldiers recovered from a mass grave. 

The five newly identified Diggers take to 124 the total number of Australians identified at the cemetery.

Some 87 Australians and two British soldiers remain unidentified while another 37 have been interred as “A soldier of the Great War - Known unto God”.

Fromelles was the first major action involving Australian troops in France in World War I.

It was fought over July 19 and 20 in 1916 and resulted in more than 5500 Australian dead and wounded. Many of the fallen were never found.

The battle is regarded by some as the worst 24 hours in Australian military history.

Mr Snowdon said the latest breakthroughs were made possible by the large number of extended family members, both in Australia and overseas, who provided DNA samples.

“We currently have more than 3000 family member details in our records but we still need more,” Mr Snowdon said on Thursday.

Mr Snowdon said the joint Australian Army and UK Ministry of Defence project to identify the dead would end in 2014, although the Australian Army’s unrecovered war casualties team would continue to process any new information.

“We remain hopeful that we will be able to identify more soldiers in coming years,” he said.