BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH REMEMBRANCE PROJECT - USA, Annual Report 2022

British & Commonwealth Remembrance Project Annual Report 2022 The British & Commonwealth Remembrance Project Inc (hereinafter “the Project”), was established in September 2020 in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Project’s goal was to provide a local focal point for British Citizens, and those of British descent, to participate in Acts of Remembrance in November. At a time when UK/US travel was restricted and many felt detached and isolated, the Project was an important way for people to feel connected both to each other and with Great Britain.

As the world returned to a state of normalcy in 2021, the Project continued to grow and flourish. In 2022, a record number of volunteers participated. Our volunteers cross the generational divide.

We have teenagers who participate with their friends, grandparents with their grandchildren, parents with toddlers, millennials, Gen X-ers who attend with friends. Our work is truly uniting people around a common cause of remembrance and thanksgiving. While our most visible participation was in war grave visits, volunteers also researched the individual histories of the British war dead in New England. That vital research uncovered the grave of a Scotsman who served under the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo and in the Peninsular Campaign, and the bodies of Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aircrew, whose remains rest at the bottom of Lake Sebago, Maine.

Poppy crosses, supplied by the Royal British Legion and the Royal British Legion Scotland, were laid at all of the 124 individual Commonwealth War Grave Commission sites. A further 54 memorial and grave sites were made up of RAF/Fleet Air Arm/RCAF crash sites, British and Commonwealth Merchant Navy personnel grave sites, and the sites of British war graves falling outside the remit of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Once again, we worked in coordination with Commonwealth War Graves Commission North America Operations Office ensuring that volunteers noted graves that needed repairs, cleaning and amendments (spelling mistakes, etc.).

Our most successful social media post of the year, however, did not relate to one of the New England war graves, but the grave of 2nd Lt Eric McCauley Hector’s grave in Egypt, more information on the incredible story of how we were able to organize a poppy cross to be laid can be found on page six.

COVID 19 Restrictions The Project was able to enjoy greater success this year as all COVID 19 restrictions were lifted in all New England states.

Financials and Fundraising The Project was funded by public subscription. Donations originated from across all cross sections of the British and Commonwealth Communities in New England and further afield. The major areas of expense were •

$1,000 for the erection of a Grave marker in Somerville (which was then generously refunded by the supplier)

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$600.00 for Poppy Wreaths, and associated supplies from the Royal British Legion

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$450.00 postage and shipping costs

In 2023, the expenses are forecasted to be •

$2,000.00

Lt Ray H. Sawlor Memorial Marker

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$3,000.00

Sebago Lake Memorial Marker

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$600.00 Poppy crosses, wreaths etc from Royal British Legion etc.

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$450.00 postage and shipping costs

There was strong support from donors, for which we are very grateful. This year ,we also launched an “adopt a grave” scheme which allows a donor to support a named grave. The “adopt a grave’ scheme has proven popular and is anticipated to grow in scale in coming years.

The Milk Row Cemetery Grave Marker

Lt Ray H. Sawlor Memorial Marker

The “Battle Road”, and the engagements between the British and the Minutemen on April 9th, are widely recounted in New England. Less well known are the grave locations of those British Soldiers who were killed returning to Boston from Lexington and Concord. This year the Project was able to fund a marker at a previously unmarked grave in Milk Row Cemetery in Somerville. The work was completed and the marker dedicated by the Mayor of Somerville during Somerville History Week. Our thanks to the City of Somerville for making this happen.

Lt Sawlor was from a Canadian family but was raised in the busy New England town of Townsend. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and pursued a career as a wireless engineer. He volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps as a Wireless Operator and served on the Western Front. He was killed in action on 11 Aug 1917.

The photo on the right shows the new marker in situ.

His hometown wish to formally acknowledge his sacrifice as he is their first WW1 death. The Project has agreed to fund a memorial marker. In 2023 we will formally dedicate a memorial to him on the Town Common.

The Sebago Lake Grave Marker On May 16, 1944, a flight of British Navy D4V Corsairs, flew a low level formation training flight over Sebago Lake.

Among those taking part in the exercise was Sub-Lieutenant Vaughn Reginald Gill, piloting aircraft number JT-132, and Sub-Lieutenant Raymond Laurence Knott, age 19, piloting JT-160. Both men were assigned to 732 Squadron based at nearby Brunswick Naval Air Station.

As the formation was passing over the water, one aircraft suddenly dropped and struck the lake sending up a large plume of water that was struck by the second aircraft to crash into the Lake. Both aircraft immediately sank in over 300 feet of water and disappeared. Despite a search conducted immediately afterward, neither the airplanes or the pilots were found. The location of these aircraft and their aircrew was discovered in the late 1990s but there is no memorial or marker to record the resting place of these men.

The Project is actively working with other parties to create a solution, one of the most difficult aspects is to find an area of suitable land. Lake Sebago is one of Portland’s principal reservoirs and most of the land surrounding it is in private ownership. Assuming that land can be found then we shall commission a local stone mason to create and erect a memorial marker, so that the final resting place of these two airmen is preserved for posterity.

Images from the 2022 Acts of Remembrance. Further information can be found on our Facebook page

“Remembering Eric” While James was chatting with one of our volunteers, Joy, she remarked that she always thought of her great Uncle as she laid poppy crosses on the graves in Rhode Island. The reason was because like them he was buried far from home (in his case Cairo) and his family were never able to visit. She said she hoped someone, somewhere was able to visit him.

James, decided to look into the details, and to see if perhaps the CWGC could arrange a visit to Eric’s grave in Cairo. Sadly, for a variety of reasons that was not an option. Never one to not accept a challenge, James, decided to explore other options. In the end the British Consul General was able to help transfer a poppy cross with a note on it from Joy and her family via the diplomatic bag. From there it went to the office of the British Defence Attaché, who took it the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.

On Remembrance Sunday 2022, Col Mark Beynon MBE, performed the Act of Remembrance at the grave of 2nd Lt Eric McCaully Hector, late of the Royal Armoured Corps 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars.

The poppy cross with the words of his family written upon it was placed at his headstone. The first such visit and message since his death on 20 20 August 1941.

"When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today"

2022 “Remembering in Our Wider Community”

The Project has been very successful in our primary objective and now has the support over 250 volunteers. We now have a “waiting list” in some parts of New England where the number of volunteers exceed the number of graves to be visited. In 2022 we encouraged volunteers to gather together in groups (not possible in 2020/21 due to Covid guidelines) to hold these Acts of Remembrance. We have forged strong links with local groups such as local Historical Societies and Heritage groups as well as our core support within the British, Canadian and Commonwealth Ex Pat communities. Through these networks we are ensuring sharing the stories of these Soliders , Sailors and Airmen, so that their service and sacrifice is not forgotten.

We are hosting a talk in Townsend to highlight the life and service of Lt Ray H. Sawlor, and the role men like him played in the British and Canadian war effort. Thousands of men like him volunteered to serve in the First World War, and were under no obligation to do so prior to the US entry into the war in 1917.

The Project was also able to host a visit to the British and Commonwealth War Graves in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This included a tour of the Shipyard Museum and minibus tour of the facility. The shipyard is the oldest in New England and is the resting place for 19 CWGC graves, and the crew of the British Merchant Navy ship Empire Knight. The Empire Knight was wrecked while under British Admiralty orders conveying vital war supplies. The Empire Knight story is being told at the Newburyport Historical Society as a result of our collaboration. As a result of our work with CWGC regional office an application for formal adoption and recognition of these graves has been submitted.

Organisation The Project was assembled and incorporated in Massachusetts as registered Non-Profit Corporation and has applied for federal non-profit status. It is governed by a Board of Directors which is chaired by the Founder, Mr. James Normington. The Treasurer is Ms. Zoe Hornsby. There are also directors responsible for social media and educational outreach, The work of the board has resulted in the Project achieving 501(c)(3) status with the Federal Government, and increased participation across the New England Area.

Acknowledgements We are extremely grateful to the support of Dr Peter Abbott and the British Consulate General, Boston. We are grateful to Captain Daniel Ettlich USN and Joseph Gluckert of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for their continued assistance. We are grateful for the support of the CWGC and BABCNE. Lastly, none of this work would have occurred without the work of our dedicated volunteers