Historical researcher Bradley Wood was visiting Ypres with his wife in 2013 when they found themselves working on the excavation of the remains of an Australian World War I soldier.

Mr Wood said he and his wife, who is an archaeologist, became involved in the excavation purely by coincidence. 

“We had some contacts there and one of the people we wanted to interview was a man who’d worked on the excavation of some Australian bodies that were found in the area.

“We went to have a chat to him and that same day he’d just found out about this other body, but he had some commitments so he really needed someone to help him out.

“We had the necessary experience so we volunteered to spend a couple of days there and cancel our flights out.” 

The body is believed to belong to an Australian who was killed during the third battle of Ypres in 1917.

“The body was never identified but it was eventually re-buried last year during a ceremony by the Australian army.

“It was only really after we got home (from the holiday) that the whole thing hit us and we started to realise what we'd done and been through.”