Remembrance Day 2023
Another Remembrance Day has passed, and we remembered those who fought the brave fight in wars and conflicts from WW1 and onwards, not just at 11am but all day and more.
Another Remembrance Day has passed, and we are still experiencing war and conflicts the world over; we still despairingly ask, why??
I do not want to dwell on the rights and wrongs of armed conflict but wish to honour all the brave soldiers who have passed and are buried in other parts of the world.
After WW1, due to the amount of war dead, it was reasoned that those who died away from their homeland would be buried in the country in which they died. Thousands of headstones in Rookwood are etched with the names of the war dead becoming a place for loved ones to mourn as it was almost impossible for anyone here to visit their actual place of rest.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was set up consisting of six independent member states whose function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars.
The Commision's work began in earnest at the end of WW1 and once land for cemeteries and memorials had been guaranteed, the enormous task of recording the detail of the dead could commence. By 1918, some 587,000 graves had been identified and a further 559,000 casualties were registered as having no known grave.
The Commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.7 million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 153 countries and since it's commencement, it has constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries and numerous memorials.
In Rookwood there is a CWGC site known as the Sydney War Cemetery established by military authorities in 1942. It contains mainly the graves of those who died in the Concord Military Hospital either of wounds received in operational areas or through sickness or accident.
It is not of the Sydney War Cemetery I wish to discuss today but two men commemorated on family headstones in Rookwood that died of their war injuries and now lie amongst the dead in the Commonwealth War Graves Section in Brookwood Cemetery in Surry England - the subject of last week's blog.
SIDNEY READ
Sidney, a butcher aged 23, enlisted on 18th of June 1917, some 3 years after the commencement of the War, and departed for the battlefields of France as part of the 33rd Battalion.
He arrived at the front in February 1918 and took part in the Spring Offensive defending the approaches to Amiens around Villiers-Bretonneaux and in September of that year was part of the operation that breached the Hindenburg Line.
It was during that battle which arguably sealed Germany's fate that Sidney received serious injuries. He was wounded in action, taking a gun shot in the spine resulting in complete paraplegia and he was duly repatriated to the King George Hospital London on the 3rd of October 1918.
A few days later he was operated upon, and a large piece of metal was removed from his spine, but he showed no sign, and really had little chance, of recovery. His condition was considered to be extremely poor, and he slipped from this life on the 10th of November 1918; one day before the Armistice and 35 days after his injury.
Sidney Read commemorated on family headstone Rookwood - author's collection.
S. Read headstone - Brookwood Military Cemetery - author's collection.
EDWARD JAMES HARVEY
Edward, a wood machinist aged 20, enlisted on the 4th of January 1916 and embarked for the Western Front on 1st April that year via the Suez Canal as part of the 56th Battalion.
Luckily (if you can call it that) for him, Edward had a severe bout of influenza and missed the bloody Battle of Fromelles on the 19th of July 1916 but was back in France defending that area later that month. He was sent to England after a severe injury to his left foot in March 1917 which saw him out of action with that injury and other illnesses for some time. He did not return to France until March 1917.
On the 26th of September 1917 at the Battle of Polygon Wood, Edward sustained a gunshot wound to the back of his neck causing severe spinal trauma. He was transferred, like Sidney, to the King George Hospital London where he died on the 17th of October 1917.
Edward Harvey commemorated on family headstone Rookwood - author's collection
E J Harvey headstone - Brookwood Military Cemetery - author's collection
The Hospital had its origins in the Ilford Emergency Hospital located at Newbury Park northeast of London built between 1910 and 1912 and operated as a military hospital during WW1.
Men recuperating during WW1 - King George Hospital - Wikicommons
Both men were buried with full military honours with a firing party, bugler and pallbearers with their respective coffins draped in the Australian Flag.
Sidney was born in England and some relatives were there to witness his burial; not so in the case of Edward, who besides the military party only had the chaplain to witness his burial.
Brookwood Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the United Kingdom covering approximately 37 acres. The area was set aside in the Brookwood Cemetery in 1917 for the burial of men and woman of the forces of the Commonwealth and Americans, who had died, many of battle wounds, in the London District.
Brookwood Military Cemetery - Wikipedia
Brookwood Military Cemetery - author's collection
It was further extended to accommodate the Commonwealth casualties of WW2 and contains 1,601 Commonwealth burials from WW1 and 3,476 from WW2.
In 2016 I visited the War Cemetery in Brookwood in search of both these men's graves and it was quite a moving experience to see their final resting place; a prayer was duly said for both of them.
They lie in a beautifully maintained area amongst fellow soldiers.
May they Rest in Peace.
My references for this blog were taken from history pages of the CWGC and Wikipedia, ancestry.com and Australian War Memorial files.
If you have any comments about this blog please add them below or failing that head to the Facebook Group page which is listed under
rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries
or send me a personal email at
lorainepunch@gmail.com
Until next week
Another very informative post, thank you…💐
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteLest we forget ❤️
ReplyDeleteExactly
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