Video casts an eye on history.  

The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency has released the third in its series of videos highlighting a variety of items of interest to the service and veterans community.

In the latest release, presenter Don Goldie looks at the work of the Historic Casualty Casework team, a small, dedicated unit working within the MoD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC).

The Casework team deals with all enquires relating to individual military fatalities outside the recent past and co-ordinates investigations following the discovery of human remains of personnel killed in the First and Second World Wars,. This fascinating work involves attempts to identify the casualty and trace their next of kin or descendants. They then arrange an appropriate military funeral in the country concerned, if that is the wish of the family.

The team have recently been heavily involved in the Fromelles Project which called for their expertise in the identification and reburial of 250 British and Australian troops who were killed during the battle in 1916. The videocast features an interview with Sue Raftree, head of the Fromelles team, who explains the procedures that were undertaken in attempting to identify the remains of those bodies recovered from their original resting place.

Senior Media Advisor Laurie Manton said, “The Historic Casework team form a little- known but vital part of SPVA. The work they do is fascinating and often poignant and the results of their efforts often provide closure for the families of servicemen who may have died many years ago. I think that the video manages to capture within its scope the essence of what they do,”  

Fromelles also features in the latest SPVA podcast, in which Ranald Leask of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission talks in some detail about the background to the project.

The podcast and video are available to view on the Veterans-UK website, and on various social media sites such as iTunes and YouTube.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

1. Veterans-UK was launched by the Ministry of Defence in April 2007 to provide a focal point for veterans to access services from the many different sources of help available. The Veterans-UK helpline, 0800 169 2277 and website www.veterans-uk.info are the main contact points.
2. The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency is an Agency of the Ministry of Defence and provides essential support functions to the Armed Forces and veterans communities. These include Forces pay and HR, issue of all medals, casualty repatriation and compassionate services, pensions, injury/bereavement compensation and veterans welfare support.
3. A veteran is anyone who has served in HM Armed Forces, regular or reserve including National Servicemen, former Polish forces under British command and Merchant Mariners who have seen duty in military operations (e.g. the Falklands Conflict). Veterans, who can be aged from 18 to well over 80, along with their families and dependents make up the veterans community and all are entitled to our services.
4. SPVA prides itself on its communication with the Service and Veterans community. By embracing Digital and Social Media, it will be able to reach an even wider audience. The SPVA podcasts were launched in February 2010 followed by the first SPVA videocast launched on 18th May 2010.
5. Using Digital and Social media products, SPVA aims to keep service personnel and veterans up to date with the latest happenings within the Agency and how they may impact on the wider Armed Forces community. 
6. SPVA podcasts and videos are now available on the SPVA Social Media Hub that can be accessed via the Veterans-UK website - and are also syndicated via iTunes, the SPVA channel on YouTube and MOD Social Media Hub http://www.blogs.mod.uk/homepage.html 

For Further Information

Please contact Laurie Manton Service Personnel and Veterans Agency, on 07795 970407