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The
"We Remember" Booklet 2006
FORGET ME NOT WAR GRAVES
 At the Remembrance service at the
Cenotaph in London every year they say, “Their name will live
for ever”. When you go across the channel and see all the graves
of those lost in the wars you know why. They will always be
there. Cemetery upon cemetery, row upon row, it is almost
impossible to believe how many. Every one is a mother’s son, and
beneath every headstone lies a story.
Forget-Me-Not War Graves began
five years ago. Now there are four of us – Will Hinton, Brian
Dixon, Paul Catlow, and I – who go two or three times a month to
the cemeteries. We take across relatives of
 those who died so
they may visit the graves. For those who cannot go we take
wreaths and crosses and lay them on their behalf, sending back a
photograph.
People came from all over the
world to fight for Europe, and we remember them all. We have had
e-mails from China and India, and once we helped a Maori prince
find the burial place of his great-grandfather. Some of the
cemeteries are very small – one has just seven burials - and
some are hidden away, with many never visited by the guided
tours. We visit all the forgotten boys. If any work needs doing
we report it back so all may rest with dignity.
Some are yet to be buried. Once
we found in a newly-turned field a bit of red cardboard on a
string, with a name printed on it. We contacted a Belgian group
licensed to excavate battlefields. They discovered a body, and
later we were invited to
attend the committal of Private Harry
Wilkinson, from the Lancashire Fusiliers. He
died in 1915,
and
five generations of his family,
including his great
granddaughter, were there. So too was HRH The Duke of Kent,
Colonel in Chief of the Royal Fusiliers
and President of the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We return to Harry’s grave
often to spend a few moments remembering him.
That is what
it is about. We fund the trips ourselves, and as long as we can
we will visit and help relatives to visit those who died
fighting for their country. It’s our way of giving something
back to those who gave their all. It is our way of saying,
“Thank you”.
Alan
Taylor
Pictures:
Grave of A/3190 Lance Cpl J H Green MM, King's Royal Rifle
Corps, died 23rd August 1917, courtesy Brian Dixon
Cabaret Rouge cemetery, courtesy Brian Dixon
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