Roll of honour

Red Side Of Sussex said:

Hi guys, sorry to intrude at a sensitive time and all that but I was wondering.......

Do any of you have relatives remembered on the Brighton War Memorial at The old stein gardens.

I am planning a journey to France this summer to visit my Greatgrandfathers war grave at the Hargicourt British cemetery.We only discovered he had a war grave a couple of years ago,sadly only my Uncle,who lives in Sydney, has visited his grave since we found out about it.I feel duty bound to go and pay my respects.

I live in Crawley but still have older relatives who live in Brighton.My great uncle lives in the Priory flats.
On my last visit I told him of my plans to visit France and he informed me that my Greatgrandfathers name is on the Brighton war memorial along side 2,390 other names.
So I had a look on line and his name C.Johnson is on there.He served with the 9th battalion,Royal Sussex and was killed whilst on a work party 28th October 1917.Im wondering now what sort of work he was carrying out that would have got him killed.
Anyway,I read that many soldiers from Brighton who were killed in the great war were sadly not included on the War memorial,which i find a bit sad really.So I was interested to know if any of you had a relative that was killed in the Great war and are amoungst the 2390 names on the memorial, or were they sadly left off.
Also,have any of you visited a war cemetery and how was the expierence.?

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ATFC Seagull said:

As a teacher I often go on a trip to Ypres and the Somme every year. Very moving - we go to some of the smaller ones as well as the big fellas (Tyne Cot, Menin Gate, Thiepval) - quite often they are better as you get a sense of how spread out the fighting was, and they usually correspond to where specific bits of fighting are (many just scattered across no-man's land). If you get a chance, I'd try to see one of the German cemeteries as well - they are very different, but equally poignant - after all they were just working class lads sent to fight and die for their country, the same as those on Britain's side. Personally I am a very anti-war, non-militaristic person (and non-British) who feels that WW1 was a complete waste of time and life, but if anything I'd say this makes going to these places even more moving.

My great-grandfather on my mum's side, who was English, is buried in Cassel, which is a small town just near Dunkirk. I have been there a few times and have vowed to get out there regularly and one day teach my kids to do the same. He was killed in May 1940 in one of the lines of defence around the evacuation. It's a small British cemetary right in the town next to the civilian one, but it's really easy to picture what went on there - especially when you have seen the scenes of small town fighting in Saving Private Ryan.

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