Tours were held throughout the day at Stonefall cemetery in Harrogate yesterday as part of the first war graves week, which was organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Stonefall, which has more than 1,000 graves, is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England and one of only five directly maintained by the commission. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.
The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire.
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Lieutenant colonel Simon Farebrother, commanding officer of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Harrogate mayor Trevor Chapman and Johanna Ropner, the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire were among those attending the tours.
They heard the stories of some of the dead, including Isikeli Komaisavai, 24, believed to be the only Fijian who flew with the British Royal Air Force and two 17-year-old Canadians who lost their lives.
War graves week gave those unable to travel to burial sites in Flanders and Normandy because of covid the opportunity to discover the war heritage on their doorsteps.
It is hoped it will become an annual event.
The commission, which is funded by governments in six Commonwealth countries, maintains more than 12,500 war grave sites in virtually every town and city in the UK.
Read more:
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To coincide with the week, it launched a postcode search function to enable people to search online for more than 4,000 war dead. It is available here.
Claire Horton, director general of the commission, said:
“By simply entering your postcode on our website you can take the first step towards making a new connection.
“We want people to share the stories they find and download a tribute for the men and women from their communities and display it in their window for War Graves Week.”
Ms Ropner said:
“I would encourage everyone to find out more about the men and women commemorated by CWGC here at Stonefall and indeed around the world.”
