Back in July I was lucky enough to be able to meet my daughter in France and we travelled to Belgium to visit the graves of our some of the men I researched during 2017- 2018.
I have visited many WW1 and WW2 graves over the years but this visit felt much more personal.
It was emotional to be able to stand at the graves of these men, whose short lives I feel I know quite well, and to see how well looked after they are. These men who came from Whittington would have never imagined they would have remained in the middle of the Belgian countryside, but they remain in very peaceful and well tended places.
Photos of most of the graves have already been posted on the webpages but I thought it would be nice to post the ones taken on my visit as they are more up to date.
We stayed near to Ypres and the graves we visited were:
Horace Aaron buried at Spoilbank Cemetery
J Vaughan buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery
H Taylor buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery
J Kynaston is buried at White House Cemetery
Arthur Chambers (Booth) is buried at Perth Cemetery (China Wall)
J Atkinson is buried at Talana Farm Cemetery
H Adams is buried at Mendingham Military Cemetery
M Clayton is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
The remaining men we visited were on the Tyne Cot or Menin Gate memorial for the soldiers who died but were never found.
The Menim Gate Memorial:
The men were all from the Notts and Derbys Regiment ( The Sherwoods)
They were:
William M Bowman, George Kirk, Thomas W S Pendleton, Wm Jas Thurman and Frank Wheelhouse Morgan.
The Tyne Cot Memorial:
The men were –
William Leslie Gaunt – Sherwoods
John Green -Sherwoods
Charles Leggitt – Sherwoods
Horace Lewis – Highland Light Infantry
All the mens stories are available to read here https://oldwhittingtonops.com/the-fallen-of-old-whittington-1914-1918/
Old Whittington One Place Study 