Remembrance Sunday Ceremony- at the Cross of Sacrifice
For those who may, perhaps, not have been aware, 2024 marks the 21 st anniversary of the founding of FoSOC and our 16 th Remembrance Commemoration in this cemetery. When we were founded by John Avery, Veronica Tippetts and myself, we were very limited in our operations as we were starting from scratch. As you will all appreciate, FoSOC has progressed very well, thanks to the hard work, over the years, of its committee and members. We are all, as volunteers, dedicated to our work in, and connected to, this cemetery. If you have not seen the display in the former non-conformist chapel, put together by Val Ferguson, our Secretary, please do take the opportunity to do so. Our co-Founder, Veronica, is our Lord Mayor’s Mum so, please, Lord Mayor, take to her our very best wishes, and sincere thanks, for her part in the creation of FoSOC.
Today we remember The Fallen, and all those who have served our Country and all those who have died in, or suffered as a result of, wars. This year marks three very significant, and important, national anniversaries, it being is the 110 th anniversary of this country going to war in 1914, and the 80 th anniversaries of D-Day and a momentous, and crucial, time in the Far East.
With its location on Southampton Water, favourable tides and deep-water docks, Southampton’s importance had been identified, well before our Declaration of War on 4 August 1914, as the main embarkation port for the British Expeditionary Force, the BEF, that went to war in Belgium and France in that month. The State took over the railway system and, based on Southampton, the aim was to receive, unload and send back again, a train every twelve minutes of each working hour enabling men, horses and equipment to be transported across the Channel. So successfully, and efficiently, was this done that, by 18th August 1914, the public could be told that the BEF had been safely landed in France without any loss.
Buried not far from where are, is Surgeon General William Maclean who, in the 19 th century, had been a Professor of Military Medicine at Netley Hospital. He died in 1898. He had seen service with the Royal Irish and one of his grandsons, Reginald Stevens, joined the Royal Irish Rifles. In August 1914, Captain Stevens, who had been appointed a Brigade Major, went with the BEF from Southampton. He was at Mons and in the Retreat. He was at Le Cateau in northern France, where his Brigade fought a rear-guard holding action against the advancing Germans enabling many of the BEF to continue their withdrawal.
Captain Stevens was to the rear of the Front Line when an Order came through for the British soldiers to fall back. It had to be communicated to the men within three minutes. There was a problem with the telephone system, so Captain Stevens bravely galloped forward towards the front line, in full view of the Germans, managing to shout out the order before he and his horse were brought down. He died, later, of his wounds and is buried locally in France. For his bravery that day he was mentioned in despatches by the BEF
Commander, Sir John French. His name was proudly inscribed on his grandfather’s gravestone in this cemetery. Reginald is one of those who will always be remembered as part of Britain’s Vanished Army from 1914, immortally known as The Old Contemptibles, described by Beatrix Brice as that ‘little mighty force that stood for England…. this land inviolate (their) monument’ and whose memorial is to be seen on the wall of the former Docks Post Office, just outside the entrance to Dock Gate 4 in our city.
80 Years ago, despite the town and docks having previously been severely damaged in air raids, Southampton and its docks were once again of vital importance for the great military and amphibious operations that, through the D-Day landings, were to lead to the liberation of occupied Europe, We were the 14th Major Port of Transportation for the United States Army, sections of Mulberry Harbours being constructed here. From D-Day, 6 June 1944 to May 1945, three and a half million men passed through our port, over two million of them being from the United States. Much of Southampton Common had been taken over by the American military, and other transit camps. Guns tanks and equipment had been hidden under trees prior to the invasion of Normandy. Our city has been of great service to our country in its times of need.
In 1944, the Japanese advanced in Burma with the intention of reaching north east India. Thanks to the bravery of the British Second Division, they did not get there. They were held at Kohima, now the capital of Nagaland, the British putting up determined resistance that included fighting there around the Governor’s Tennis Court. To commemorate that vital action, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cross now stands where the tennis court once was, with the memorial to the Second Division. We are honoured to have in Southampton, a Far East Prisoners of War Repatriation Memorial located at Town Quay Park. The words on the Kohima memorial are part of Remembrance.
Words by Geoff Watts and Photos taken by Bruce Larner
