A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

A Memorial to British Soldiers
By
David Carter

Should you find yourself in danger with your enemies at hand
Would you want a politician with his shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and country and would fight until the end?

He was but a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us we might need his like again
For when countries are in conflict then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start!

- A. Lawrence Vaincourt.

ALMOST 10 years ago, we raised the idea of erecting a monument to remember the British service personnel who died in Cyprus during the EOKA conflict between 1955-59.

While throughout South Cyprus there were museums and memorials to honor EOKA's members, there was none for the British, not even on the territory of the British Sovereign Bases.

Now all that has changed. A British memorial is about to become a reality, erected in Kyrenia on the north coast of the Island.

A Memorial Trust

To mark the 50th anniversary of the ending of the four-year conflict, which preceded the independence of Cyprus in 1960, the British Cyprus Memorial Trust has been established to honor the memory of the 372 British servicemen who died during the course of that conflict.

For full details go to www.britishcyprusmemorial.org

There will be both a Roll of Honor Memorial Book and a permanent memorial bearing the names of the 372 dead - 28 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, 70 RAF men and the Army's 274.

The memorial will stand in the old British cemetery in Kyrenia, close to the tomb of Sergeant William McGaw of The Black Watch, the only VC-holder to be buried in Cyprus.

Sergeant McGaw contracted a fever soon after he came ashore and was the first soldier to die in Cyprus, when the British leased the Island from the Ottoman Empire in 1878.

1878 - The Union flag is raised in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, watched by The Black Watch.

Departure of Governor Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot

Sir Hugh Foot, the last Governor of Cyprus, leaves on 16 August 1960, played on his way by the Band of The Black Watch.

The Memorial site will close the circle of 82 years of British rule of the Island.

April 2009 is the target date for completion of the double memorial.

Colonel John Watts, MC, who served at the British Military Hospital in Nicosia, was the first person to contribute to its cost with a cheque of one hundred pounds.

Early rejections

REACHING this stage has been a long struggle.

In 2000, Dave Cranston, ex-RUR, raised the concept of the memorial project on Britain's Channel 4 Teletext pages as well as with the British Legion, regimental associations and civilian police officers, who had served in Cyprus and lost comrades and was met by a wave of indifference.

We approached prominent figures in the British establishment and Members of Parliament of all political persuasions, expecting favorable responses, especially in the wake of 9/11 and our service personnel being posted to Afghanistan and elsewhere in the 'war against terrorism'.

But our optimism was misplaced.

Some MPs were initially interested, but a few weeks later either declined to talk with us anymore or indicated that they had been advised not to get involved.

Expats threw up their arms in horror at the suggestion of a British memorial in Cyprus. They considered it would 'send the wrong political signals'. We were advised in curt terms to 'drop it'.

The Honor Roll

WHILE we faced these difficulties, we pressed on with creating an Honor Roll to be published here. It took two years to gather the names of the fallen.

Today that Honor Roll, the first of its kind, appears on several other military websites and is used by historians and academics at home and abroad in their papers about one of the first major campaigns against terrorism.

Enemies remember

IN a letter mailed in 2003, Rowley Johnson, a veteran of the Cyprus conflict, underlined the reason why 'we must remember our soldiers because our former enemies never forget theirs'. He wrote from Australia: 'Last November (2002), I attended a dinner function at a Greek club in Sydney with the New Zealand Consul and president of the New Zealand Services Club.

'Before we began dinner, the Greeks raised their glasses to toast their "heroes" - Archbishop Makarios and Colonel Grivas, the men behind the EOKA conflict. We walked out. This caused quite a stir.

'The Greeks wrote a letter of protest to the Prime Minister, who, in turn, telephoned me. I explained why we had walked out. I had after all escorted several EOKA bastards out of Cyprus.

'I was told not to hold a grudge, that the war was in the past and we should be diplomatic.

'Sorry, but I can't. The EOKA members were not soldiers. They were terrorists. I know how their actions affected many soldiers who served in Cyprus.

'In my job as a local welfare officer for veterans, I've attended 97 funerals this past year. No one cares for these old soldiers, except their families and other soldiers.

'I asked Prime Minister Blair and Australia's Prime Minister Howard how they planned to treat the next breed of 'old soldiers' - those who have served in the Gulf, Balkans, Afghanistan and elsewhere, but neither man had the courtesy to reply.'

Success at last

THEN, two years ago, Donald Crawford, QC, a retired barrister, decided to take up the memorial challenge - and has succeeded against all the odds.

Today The British Cyprus Memorial Trust has been formed as a non-profit company to coordinate the project.

The Trust's officers are:

General Sir John Waters, who saw active service in Cyprus with the Gloucestershire Regiment.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, former Chief of the Air Staff and president of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and was based in Cyprus during the 60s.

Lieut. General Sir Henry Beverley, who saw active service in Cyprus with the Royal Marines.

The Trust represents three linked associations:

1. The British Cyprus Veterans' Association, whose membership is open to all who have served with the British Armed Forces in Cyprus.

Lord Glentoran is its president. He was with the Grenadier Guards during the 1955-59 Emergency.

2. The Cyprus Memorial Family Association, for relatives of those remembered on the memorial. The Earl of Ilchester is its president.

2Lt The Hon. Stephen Fox-Strangways, Earl Ilchester's cousin - and then heir to the title - was killed in Famagusta in 1958 while serving with the Royal Horse Guards.

3. Friends of the Cyprus Memorial, which includes the Royal British Legion.

The Lord Maginnis of Drumglass is its President. He is a former officer of the Ulster Defense Regiment (now the Royal Irish Regiment)

Michael Stephen is the Chairman of the Management Committee. A former Member of Parliament, he is a barrister specializing in international affairs, who saw service with The Life Guards.

A Memorial Book will be placed in the Wayne's Keep Cemetery Church in the United Nations Buffer Zone between North and South Cyprus. The Church will provide a focus for an annual remembrance service there in years to come.

A Wayne's Keep Service

Not forgotten

THE Memorial Trust says: 'The obligation of remembrance for the 372 British who died on active service in Cyprus between April 1 1955 and April 18 1959 - the majority of them aged 21 or under - is in accord with the long tradition of so doing, but it is of particular importance in this instance because, through political circumstance, their graves have been largely locked away from public sight for some 34 years.

'But out of sight is not out of mind, and the memorial - both in the church nearby and in Kyrenia - will be its own testimony that they have not been forgotten by the country to which they never returned and in whose service they died.

'Fifty years on, they deserve nothing less.'

At BSW we do not forget.

Editor's Note: Late November 2008, the EOKA Fighters Association in Cyprus damned the proposal for a memorial in Kyrenia for the 371 service personnel who lost their lives in 1955-59 Cyprus conflict. Spokesman Thasos Sophocleous called it 'provocative' and an 'insult' to the Greek Cypriot people and 'even worse is the fact that it will be in the occupied areas without informing the Government of Cyprus'. He said it was akin to the Germans building monuments in Britain for those who died during World War II.

Mr. Sophocleous should be told that there is a memorial in Staffordshire for the 5,000 German service personnel killed in Britain during World War II - on land gifted to the German government in 1962.

TO mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Cyprus Emergency a Memorial Service for the 371 British servicemen who died on active service there was held at Wayne's Keep, the British military cemetery in the UN BufferZone, Nicosia, and afterwards in the nearby British garrison church of St. Columba on 20 April 2009.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the British government by the Deputy British High Commissioner Brian Olley, and among the others was one laid on behalf of the Duke of Wellington, Patron of the Trust, by Colonel John Hughes-Wilson. The Royal British Legion, the RNA and RAF Associations also laid wreaths, as did the Earl of Ilchester, on behalf of relatives.

In a packed church afterwards, Lord Ilchester told the congregation that 'We have in Britain a long tradition of remembering our servicemen who have died across the world and across the ages. It is called nowadays the military covenant between the Nation and its Armed Forces. We shall not forget.

'And that is as true here in Cyprus as anywhere else. Indeed, at this the 50th anniversary it is of particular importance that we do remember, for here through political circumstances their graves have been locked away from public sight since the island itself was divided through another conflict some 34 years ago.

'Today, we here have crossed that divide and have come together not as North and South but as representatives, each and everyone one of us, for the British people at large. I also want to say - on behalf of the relatives of those we now honour - how proud they all are that you should have come to say that their loved ones have not been forgotten after all by the country for which they died.'

Memorial Service

Momumental Effort

Article published by the Daily Telegraph to launch the Memorial fund-raising campaign

TEN YEARS after the Kyrenia Memorial was first mooted by Britain's Small Wars, it was unveiled on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2009, in the Old British Cemetery in Kyrenia, North Cyprus, despite angry reaction from former EOKA fighters. 'They have no right to build such a monument on Cyprus, especially in the "occupied areas",' head of the EOKA Veteran's Association Thassos Sophocleus told the Cyprus Mail, adding that he opposed the description of EOKA as a 'terrorist' organization.

Sophocleos, a former Eoka executioner and gang leader in the Kyrenia district, had particular responsibility for terrorism in Kalogrea/Bahceli and Ayios Amvrosios/Esentepe, with Photis Papaphotis and 24 others. Among their 'heroic' acts was the horrific murder of Special Constable G T Karberry and his pregnant wife in a mountain road ambush, near Akanthou on 8 July 1956.

The Memorial Service began at 12.30 (Cyprus time) and was conducted by The Rt. Reverend Michael Lewis, Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The Guest of Honor was HE Peter Millet, the British High Commissioner. Representing Her Majesty, The Queen, he laid a wreath at the foot of the monument. The local two-minute silence coincided with that at the Cenotaph in London.

More than 250 relatives and friends of the 371 men named on the Memorial were present. Another 100 former soldiers of the 1955-59 Emergency, who live in Cyprus, also attended. All sat in a private enclosure on the road outside the cemetery, which was closed by the police for the duration of the service. Many more expatriates watched the ceremony on two large TV screens.

Retired Major Brian Thomas, BEM, chairman of the local organizing committee in North Cyprus, explained: 'When this poignant occasion was at the planning stage we never expected so many UK-based relatives and veterans would make the journey to the TRNC. Given the amount of time, money and effort shown by them, it was felt that they should be given priority in the seating arrangements and the reception afterwards.'

The local committee included Les Evans, Keith Lloyd, Ken Black, Gerry Lee and Turkish Cypriots Steve Abit and Jimmy Keco.

The granite Memorial was designed and made by Keith Rackham from H L Perfitt Ltd of Diss in Norfolk and shipped to North Cyprus, where it was unpacked in the old British Cemetery.

For Keith Rackham, his company, and local Turkish Cypriot workers the erection of the Memorial was a labor of love.

Website
www.britishcyprusmemorial.org

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