A LOCAL woman has embarked on a search to find the resting place of her relative who perished in the First World War.
Bev Whiteman is determined to find the remains of her father's uncle Walter Stanley Fisher.
Private Fisher who was declared missing in France during the First World War and is still officially recorded as missing in action.
Walter Stanley Fisher is the Uncle of Mrs Whiteman's father Lance Carlisle, and died on August 6, 1916 in conflict, the same day as his brother Osborne Fisher.
Mrs Whiteman and her husband are due to travel to France in September where they will visit war memorials and pay their respects to her relatives who perished there.
While in France Mrs Whiteman will provide a DNA sample, which will hopefully result in finding some unidentified remains and laying Mr Fisher to rest.
"It's the least I can do for all they have sacrificed," she said.
Having researched her family tree for many years, Mrs Whiteman feels that finding Walter Fisher's final resting place would bring some closure.
Last month Mrs Whiteman had come to a dead end with her research until a family member presented her with a letter that had been sent to Walter Fisher's mother.
The letter was an eyewitness account of someone who served with Mr Fisher and confirmed that he had been critically injured at war.
It was written by a Mr Edward Gray from Midland Junction who had been serving in the same battalion as Walter Stanley, and stated that he had lest seen Mr Stanley in the vicinity of a shell explosion.
In the letter, which is now 99 years old, Mr Gray described the exact location where he had last seen Mr Fisher, including the rough distance from a windmill and building in the area.
"I am travelling to France in September to see if the area in which Edward Gray described in his letter has been dug in or not," Mrs Whiteman said.
It is believed that Walter Fisher was buried at the bottom of the trench after a shell attack.
Walter Fishers mother Elizabeth had received the letter five years after her son's death, after trying to find out what had happened to him.
"I would like to find Mr Gray's ancestors and thank them, Walter's mother waited five years to find out what had happened to her son and it must have given her some closure."
Both Walter and Osborne Fisher have their names immortalised on a tree in Kings Park as well as on the war memorial in Villers Bretonneux in France, where they perished.