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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

'In The Cold'. This needs to change soon.


Ken Wayman

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In reply to Corisande, these men WERE regarded as a 'special case' and 'as a matter of policy' the maintenance of the graves was paid for by the War Office up until the outbreak of WW2. I have the unambiguous evidence of this in War Office and BAOR correspondence from the National Archives. Some of these men were on detachment from the BAOR, others were deployed to Silesia directly from the UK. All were on active duty. They are the only British soldiers to have died on German soil between the wars who are not commemorated. There are 126 servicemen and 200 dependents/civilians in Cologne Southern and a further 56 servicemen and 76 dependents/civilians in Sudfriedhof, Wiesbaden all of whom died between 1921 and 1929 who were serving with the BAOR. Every single grave is maintained and paid for by the MoD through an agency agreement with the CWGC. And just to give you a few more examples, there are 20 graves in Shell Green, Gallipoli of men who died in 1922/1923 who were originally buried in Kelia Liman, were exhumed in 1927 and reburied in Shell Green; there are 16 naval graves in Volos Cemetery in Greece of sailors who were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard HMS Devonshire during military exercises in 1929, and hundreds of interwar graves in Malta etc all of which are cared for by the CWGC. 

15 minutes ago, andrew pugh said:

Hi Ken

I seem to think that this has been on the forum before,some time ago. I think there were about 35 soldiers in these graves in Opole. I have been in contact with a good friend of mine who is a freelance journalist in Scotland, and I know she knows fellow journalists who work on some of the larger known newspapers in Scotland.She also has a great interest in the Great War.

I think there were 2 or 3 Scots lads among these casualties buried at Opole. She said she will have a look.

Regards

Andy   

She can contact me and I can give her plenty of info. There  are some Scots there

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1 hour ago, andrew pugh said:

Hi Ken

I seem to think that this has been on the forum before,some time ago. I think there were about 35 soldiers in these graves in Opole. I have been in contact with a good friend of mine who is a freelance journalist in Scotland, and I know she knows fellow journalists who work on some of the larger known newspapers in Scotland.She also has a great interest in the Great War.

I think there were 2 or 3 Scots lads among these casualties buried at Opole. She said she will have a look.

Regards

Andy   

Hi Andrew. the Opole cemetery was discussed about 4 years ago when someone was asking about Sgt Storer, and intelligence officer who is one of the men buried here. There have been articles written about this in The Daily Telegraph,  and The Local in Poland https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/brit-finds-unmarked-grave-of-long-lost-wwi-relative-in-poland-1398?fbclid=IwAR37hsXTZ_QT_Uje7azz__xQSi5VdD4AAuBmyJLM9ZxFE2LqrPEDQ35zYio

I was going to contact the Dundee Courier with the story as there are a couple of local lads in the cemetery, and I am hoping The Argus in Brighton will be publishing a story this week. If your contact would like to contact me I will happily give her any info. Regards, Jim Powrie

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4 hours ago, Lorre Powrie said:
20 hours ago, JWK said:

Signed.

 

And I have informed Witold Mazuchowski of this petition. I'm sure he'll be very interested.

He runs the "Fallen in WW1" website, all the WW1 graves  (all nationalities)  in nowadays Poland  

http://wicy.webd.pl/polegli/index.php?lng=en

 

Thank you

 

Witold emailed me back, and he's very sorry but his website's cut-off date is 11.11.18 (and soldiers who died áfter that date of injuries they sustained befóre that date)

Which I totally understand actually. You've got to draw the line somewhere especially with volunteer-websites like this. But they do an awfully good job!

 

And he continues "I passed [the] information [about this thread/petition] to the Oppeln Genealogical Society so maybe they will be able to react adequately to the petition".
 

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I have just come across this thread, and have read the links with interest, I have signed the petition as I dont think its right that these men are not commemorated at all despite their sacrifice.

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On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 00:52, JWK said:

Signed.

 

And I have informed Witold Mazuchowski of this petition. I'm sure he'll be very interested.

He runs the "Fallen in WW1" website, all the WW1 graves  (all nationalities)  in nowadays Poland  

http://wicy.webd.pl/polegli/index.php?lng=en

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

Ken

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On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 09:32, DavidOwen said:

Signed.

 

On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 11:50, corisande said:

I doubt that MOD will budge on this. Rightly or wrongly the authorities have always maintained the "official" date for CWGC graves is the cut off point.

 

For example, over 50 soldiers died in Ireland in 1921 - full details here - after the cut off date, and do not have CWGC graves. They died for various reasons (you can see on the link ) and some were KIA. But no CWGC graves

 

There must be other theatres where British troops were deployed after Aug 1921 and where men died without CWGC graves

 

I would think that the MOD will not agree to a "special case" on the part of Polish graves in Poland

 

Possibly not but it still sticks in the craw!

 

Ken

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I would like to thank everyone who has either signed, contributed to the discussion or both (!). It's good to know that people care enough to make the effort.

 

Regards

 

Ken

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Signed

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My experience at Haifa with the graves of 9 RGA Gunners and Drivers - see 

suggests that in a case like this it is very useful to get one or more MPs on board

The nine men at Haifa were all RGA so I enlisted the MP for Salisbury where the RA is based: both Key and Glen provided valuable support and presure on the MoD

If you have not done so already, then a similar move here is well worth concidering

 

Good Luck

Michael

Edited by michaeldr
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Michael,

Thanks for that detailed information - seems like you have experienced the problem in all its non-glory! Excellent advice about how to proceed - I'll pass this on to Jim Powrie.

You've certainly 'done your bit'!

 

Best regards

 

Ken

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