First World War soldier finally laid to rest more than 100 years after his death

The remains of Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm were identified by DNA after it was found 102 years after he died in 1917

A bearer party carries the coffin of Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm, during a burial ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium (Virginia Mayo/AP) (AP)

A First World War soldier has finally been laid to rest more than 100 years after his death, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

The body of Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm, a 23-year-old stretcher bearer from Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, was found when unidentified remains were recovered from a shell hole outside a German blockhouse in Fusilier Wood near Klein-Zillebeke, Belgium in 2019.

The Royal Army Medical Corps insignia and a medical orderly cloth patch were recovered with the body, which indicated the person found had been a stretcher bearer.