“As part of a tour group interested in World War I history, we visited Cite Souterraine de Naours, a man-made cave system near the town of Naours,” she said.
“The Australia soldiers of the Great War, whilst convalescing in the nearby village, would visit the caves.
“Here, as a reminder of that time, are over 3000 graffiti signatures.”
Turning on the light on her phone, Ms Waters saw an etching that jumped out at her.
“We stumbled upon a signature written by a soldier from Moyhu,” she said.
“It was an incredible find, and it added a personal connection to the history we were exploring.”
Upon returning to Australia she did some research and found records of a Private Archibald Patterson from Myrrhee, Victoria, who had lived in Moyhu.
He served as a Private in the 16th Australian Light Horse Brigade.
Eager to find out if Mr Patterson had any relatives living in the area she contacted the Ensign and a photo of the etching was published.
Within a few days the Ensign was contacted by Curl Symes, Private Patterson’s grandson.
“I never knew my grandfather, he was killed when my mum was only one years old,” Mr Symes said.
“Mum never knew him, and I never knew him so it was a bit of a shock to see his name in the paper.
“It was actually my daughter who saw it and told me. So we did a bit of research and found out it was certainly him.
“I went to the Australian War Memorial and there are 26 pages on him — all his service, and injuries, where he went.
"He spent about two-and-a-half years in France, which is when he must have etched his name in the cave.
“To find it after 100 years, it must have been etched in pretty well.”
Mr Symes said when his grandfather returned from the war the family lived in Melbourne where he was a shunter on the railways.
Unfortunately he was run over and killed by a train which is when his wife and kids relocated to Benalla.
“That’s why we were all brought up here,” Mr Symes said.
“He has some more grand-kids still in Benalla, Geoff Patterson and Kaylene Patterson are still in the area.”
Ironically Mr Symes had been looking into taking a river cruise in Northern France for the past 12 months.
He said this might be the catalyst to get him over there so he could visit the caves and see his grandfather’s name etched into history.
25°C