The only known photograph of a Maitland soldier killed in World War I was discovered this week and sent to the Australian War Memorial in time for its Last Post Ceremony commemorating his history on Saturday.
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Stunned relatives of Sergeant Arnold Worboys from Bolwarra had believed all photographs of him had been destroyed in the Maitland floods.
Robert Worboys, from Bolwarra, believes he found the site of his relative’s death – a bomb crater on a sunken road near Villers-Bretonneux on the Somme.
But he has no known grave.
Then a schoolgirl in Queensland, Charlotte Lambert, began studying Sgt Worboys’ history because Lambert was his middle name.
And she discovered the date of his death in 1917 – March 23 – was also her birthday.
The Maitland Mercury published all their stories – and they contacted each other.
Then came amazing news when Neil Worboys from northern NSW rang Charlotte to say the dead Maitland soldier was his father’s uncle – and he had a photograph of Arnold.
Charlotte contacted the Mercury to say she had been sent the photographs – together with a copy of Arnold’s birth certificate.
The news broke as the Australian War Memorial was gearing up to record its Last Post Ceremony telling the story of Sgt Arnold Worboys this Saturday - without a picture of him.
So the Mercury contacted the Australian War Memorial on Thursday and sent them the only known photograph of Sgt Worboys.
But the story is incomplete.
When the Last Post Ceremony on Sgt Worboys is recorded on Saturday, among the special guests will be Charlotte from Queensland and Robert Worboys from Bolwarra.
The two will lay flowers at the memorial of a man who has come to mean so much to them both.
And the work they have done together will have added a vital chapter to Maitland’s military history.