British soldiers killed in First World War finally buried with full military honours They were joined by 300 people including Prince Michael of Kent, an HAC Royal Honorary Colonel. Today's burial was held just two miles from the location of the second Battle of Bullecourt, next to the Hindenburg Line, where the soldiers fell after refusing to retreat despite more than 250 casualties in their company. Lt Pritchard, a former head boy at St Paul's Cathedral school who sang during the coronation of Edward VII, was identified by a silver identity bracelet, and Pte Elphick, by a signet ring carrying his initials. The two unidentified soldiers were re-interred as "HAC soldiers known unto God." It is understood DNA samples have been taken to enable any future positive identification. The name of Lt Pritchard, the eldest of three boys in a family of seven appears on a plaque in St Paul's Cathedral honouring members of the choir killed in the war. Lt Pritchard, from Wandsworth, south-west London, worked as an inspector at the Alliance Assurance Company before joining the HAC in 1909 as part of the first wave of British soldiers to be sent into action. Injured in 1915, in which he was shot through the neck with the bullet narrowly missing his spine and major arterie, he declined a desk desk job in London to return to France as an acting Captain. Having never married, he survived the horrors of the Somme in 1916 before being slain as he led his men into a battle, in which they were almost all killed. Pte Elphick, an insurance clerk from Dulwich, south London, arrived in France three months after the birth of his son, Ronald Douglas, who was to serve in the HAC during Second World War. Today, the soldiers were given full military honours, while their coffins were carried by regiment bearer parties and draped in the Union flag and topped with the regimental forage cap, belt, and wreath. A military firing party fired a salute during the service while the families were presented with the flags and the soldiers" personal belongings. Lt Pritchard's family were also given his officer's sword by an American collector who had come across the sword in the USA, and donated it back to his family. He had the sword made in September 1915 while he was recuperating from injury in Britain. Lt Pritchard's nephew John "Harold" Shell, 89, from Winchester, laid a wreath on behalf of the family, who only found out about the remains 18 months ago. Mr Shell said: "It seems silly to say it but the feeling I had was that he is coming home. He isn't of course, but that was the feeling. I envisaged my mother who died some years ago standing there with me. It is a very strange feeling, even talking about it affects me now. The soldier's great-niece, Janet Shell, 54, from Walton-on- Thames, Surrey, had searched the internet for his name last year, only to discover a web forum asking if any of his relatives had been found. It took three years in total for officials to trace any relatives. Mr Douglas, who died in 2000, never knew his father, but kept his memory alive for his two sons, Christopher and Martin, who both attended the burial. Martin, 61, who lives near Bath, Somerset, said the ceremony would have been the "closing of the circle" for his father and grandmother. Chris Elphick, 64, from Cross In Hand in East Sussex, said: "We feel incredibly honoured about this; it's putting an end to a mystery that has been with our family for almost 100 years." The Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII.