David Carter
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject: BRITISH CYPRUS MEMORIAL |
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Greetings to all
Work is going ahead to build The British Cyprus Memorial to remember the 372 British military personnel who died in Cyprus between 1955 and 1959.
The Memorial will be erected in the old British Cemetery in Kyrenia. The aim is to unveil it in time for Remembrance Sunday 2009. Part of the work involves tidying up the cemetery
Given the requirement of public accessibility, the old British cemetery in Kyrenia is a fitting site for a fixed memorial.
Established in 1878 when the British first arrived in Cyprus, it is the last resting place of the only VC buried on the island: Sgt Samuel McGaw of the Black Watch, whose grave lies beside four other members of his regiment who also died in that first year of 1878.
Among the others are those of two British major-generals who served on the island in the years thereafter — Sir Courtenay Manifold (d. 1957) and Sir Charlton Spinks (d. 1959) — as well as that of a wartime governor and commander-in-chief of the island, Sir William Battershill (1959). These were all distinguished servants of the Crown who died in the same years as those remembered on the memorial.
There are other graves with a strong military connections, among them a DSO and another with both the MC and the Croix de Guerre. Taken together, the graves in the old British cemetery give added dignity to the memorial, a final chapter in a long story.
For full details of the project - and the key figures involved - please have a look at:
http://www.parliamentarybrief.com/britcyp/index.php/default
or the Cyprus section of Britain's Small Wars on the web at
www.britains-smallwars.com
Best wishes to all
David (Carter)[/size] |
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