As remembrance time comes round again it is rather sobering to be reminded that there are very few combatants from The Second World War still surviving to attend services and memorial events.
War graves are an enduring symbol of the pledge: “We will remember them”. Poignant and moving, whether a scattering of headstones next to a quiet Flanders farm or the sweeping Normandy clifftop with seemingly endless fields of white crosses.
While many of us will visit those Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries to locate a family member or as a simple act of remembrance, for most it will be televised events on and around Remembrance Sunday in November.
While, of course, hundreds of thousands made their sacrifice overseas and were laid to rest in those immaculately kept cemeteries, a surprising number lie or are commemorated in churchyards and cemeteries in virtually every community at home. All are marked by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s distinctive headstone.
A little piece in my Leicestershire village magazine mentioned three such graves in our cemetery and shortly afterwards we spotted a CWGC van parked there.
I started to wonder if this was the case in other sleepy churchyards and burial grounds locally. I was taken aback by how many (virtually all) had these graves and started to wonder who they were and how their ultimate sacrifice was made.
I concentrated on the Second World War graves and found stories of bravery and tragedy which called out to be told. Every life that was given deserves to be remembered.
I’ve already visited many local war graves and I am going to bring some of the stories I have uncovered every week until Remembrance Sunday 2025. I won’t just stay locally I will try to include stories from all parts of the UK. The graves are of men and women from all the services and not just frontline personnel. The CWGC roll of honour also lists the many civilians who paid that terrible price in the name of the fight against fascism.
Next week I will start with the award of a Victoria Cross in the air as a bomber returned from a cross Channel raid.
