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PERSONAL BATTLEFIELD AND WAR-GRAVE MEMORIALS |
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Nearly
600,000 Commonwealth soldiers are buried in Northern France and Belgium
together with many who served with our Allies. These men gave their
lives in the service of their country, and for our Freedom. The
majority died on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918 or in the
liberation of France in 1944 and 1945. They are buried in beautifully
maintained cemeteries close to where they died. Their sacrifice is
commemorated each year on Remembrance Day (known in the US as Veterans Day). Many families are increasingly interested in, and inspired by, these lost relatives. Every year, more and more families decide to visit their graves and find a strong emotional bond to individuals whom they only knew through family stories. With so many people these days opting for cremation, it is not uncommon for these relatives to be the last to have a permanent memorial to them and their grave can become a point of connection with subsequent generations too. Until now, beyond making a personal pilgrimage to the grave or memorial, perhaps placing a small wooden cross, there was little that a family could do to offer their own thanks, to express their own apologies, to share their grief.
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My own Great Uncle, Leonard Percival Bartlett, was one of these men. He served from 1915 to 1917, at first as a private, then as a corporal in the Machine Gun Corps, before returning to the Royal Berkshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. In the Battle of Arras on the 9th April 1917, he led his men across land they thought was safe, up the side of a hill they thought was in allied possession. When they reached the crest, he and a handful of his men were killed at short range by a German machine gun. Seeing these men dying in front of them, undoubtedly saved the lives of those behind. Buried in Arras, his is the last grave of any member of my family. Despite being the favourite brother of my Grandfather, we knew little or nothing of him, and such was the grief of all the family that not only was he rarely mentioned, but death itself was rarely discussed for three generations. Indeed, it was more than 90 years before I became the first member of the family to visit his grave. |
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People's sense of Faith has changed over the last Century. While for some, traditional beliefs continue to answer their own needs, many prefer to hold their own understanding of the sense of connection that we feel with one another. Whether we describe this as a form of love or Spirit, it is the power behind the grief that we feel when we visit these war-time graves. In 2001, I completed a two year training with The New Seminary, Oxford, in which we studied comparative theology and aspects of service. As one of the few such seminaries around the world, we are ordained not into one Faith but to support people of all beliefs and those who do not feel they fit within a traditional or contemporary Faith. Our own backgrounds are less important than our ability to serve others. For the last three years I have worked as a part-time chaplain in the Defence sector, where my role is to help people find meaning in their work and to grow individually - emotionally, spiritually and ethically. Since I was ordained, I have helped nearly a hundred couples express their love for one another through very personal wedding blessings, and supported a small number of families by conducting funeral and memorial services. Having experienced the power of visiting and finding connection with a lost relative from the 1914-1918 War, I know how important this can be in helping us each today. Consequently, I have decided to offer a graveside or battle-field service for close family members and friends in Northern France and Belgium, to honour and celebrate their relative, and to grow themselves through their sense of connection. How does this work? Once you have established where your relative is buried, or where you believe they were killed, and have an idea of the date you would like the ceremony to take place, you are welcome to contact me, by email or telephone. Assuming that I am available that day, I will send you a short form asking questions about your relative, your subsequent family story and your purpose in holding a celebration. You will not need to give in-depth answers, but any information that you have will help make sure that the ceremony is exactly what you want. I ask you to confirm the booking by returning this form with a small deposit. I will contact the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to confirm that they have no objection to the ceremony at that time and place. It is extremely unlikely that they will have any difficulty, but from time-to-time Regimental ceremonies or maintenance activities may make it difficult, in which case I will advise you and either agree an alternative or refund your deposit. We will then have a telephone conversation to talk through your answers and the structure of the ceremony, after which I will send you a draft. We can have as many such calls as you wish to plan the ceremony. I leave you to make the necessary travel and hotel arrangements for your family and friends. You may wish to do so through an established Battlefield tour leader or company who will, I am sure, be happy to arrange a tour to complement the ceremony. In the evening before the ceremony, I will visit you in your hotel to confirm the final details. On the day, I shall meet you at the entrance to the Cemetery or another agreed location, we will make our way to the grave, and I shall conduct the ceremony we have jointly designed. Obviously, this process takes quite a bit of time, and involves a day or so of my own time travelling apart from the preparation. I do not seek to make a profit from it, but I do need to provide for my own family, and I therefore charge a fixed fee of £450 plus my travel costs. I will advise you of these as quickly as possible. I ask for payment in two instalments, one on booking and the other two weeks before the ceremony. This is all you will be asked to pay. If this service is of interest, please give me a call (07785 222380) or email me at graham@inter-faith.net.
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