Buried in a quiet North Devon churchyard is Waterloo veteran Sergeant John Hill, who served with the 40th Regiment of Foot throughout the Peninsular campaign with the Duke of Wellington. He died in 1861, aged 77. 📍Georgeham (St George) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Son of Lord Gort, 2nd Lieutenant The Hon. Charles Vereker, was tragically found dead with a revolver nearby on this day in 1941. He had previously been injured in a motorcycle accident and was reported to be among the last evacuated from Dunkirk. 📍Corfe Mullen Cemetery 🇬🇧

Present at Mons and wounded at Ypres, Nuneaton soldier Private Joseph Clarke met a tragic end at a Warwick railway station…🧵

The Dockworker Memorial honours those who joined the 25 February 1941 general strike in Amsterdam to protest the persecution of Jews under Nazi occupation. Nine participants were killed, dozens injured, and hundreds arrested. 📍De Dokwerker, Amsterdam 🇳🇱

A neat row of headstones in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s third largest cemetery. Each one tells a story… 📍Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 🇧🇪

Arundell Neave, 16th (The Queen’s) Lancers, was killed in action on this day in 1915. I believe he was a relative of Airey Neave, of Colditz escape fame, who later became a Member of Parliament and was killed by the IRA in 1979. 📍Ypres Town Cemetery 🇧🇪

A Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Warwick, was sunk by the German U-boat U-413 on 20 February 1944, off Trevose Head, killing over 60 crewmen. In Padstow Harbour there’s a plaque commemorating those killed and the bravery of those who rescued the survivors. 📍Padstow 🇬🇧

In 1982, Peter Squire, then a Wing Commander, served in the Falklands War. He led the first RAF squadron to operate from an aircraft carrier in conflict since WW2, and he was the first to launch a laser-guided bomb in combat. 📍Heanton Punchardon (St Augustine) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Frank Burton died of influenza in France on this day in 1919. He originally served with the Labour Corps before transferring to the Durham Light Infantry. The 27-year-old was from Arnold, Nottinghamshire and had served in France and Belgium. 📍Terlincthun British Cemetery 🇫🇷

Lieutenant Haldane Stokes MVO, Royal Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action on this day in 1915, retaking a trench that had been blown up by the Germans. 📍Tuileries British Cemetery 🇧🇪

Herbert Thiele, German Navy, was a survivor of U-357, which was sunk by HMS Hesperus and HMS Vanessa. He was originally buried at Gourock Cemetery. I believe he was a POW who drowned while attempting to escape captivity. 📍Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery 🇬🇧

Asayoshi Harada, a Petty Officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, is buried in Dorset. His ship, Izumo, was part of the 2nd Special Squadron, which served in the Mediterranean as part of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 📍Portland Royal Naval Cemetery 🇬🇧

Harry Warrener was one of many thousands of young men who served in the military, but died of pneumonia during the influenza pandemic that cruelly struck at the war’s end. 📍Nottingham General Cemetery 🇬🇧

The epitaph on Serjeant William Harris’ headstone reminds us of those he left at home to mourn his loss. In William’s case, it was his wife, Nell, and his children, Baby Frank and Billie. 📍Point 110 New Military Cemetery 🇫🇷

Private John Henry Garrett, Royal Army Service Corps, died from disease contracted whilst on military service. The 42-year-old’s death came exactly three months after the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. 📍Warwick Cemetery 🇬🇧

Ernest Pitcher VC DSM died of tuberculosis on this day in 1946. He was awarded his Victoria Cross while serving on board the Q-ship HMS Dunraven during WW1. He retired from the Navy in 1927 and worked in a school before rejoining during WW2. 📍Swanage (Northbrook) Cemetery 🇬🇧

The lettering on Gunner Walter Atkins’ original headstone has long since faded, and a new CWGC headstone was installed in 2001. However, a detailed Machine Gun Corps (Heavy Section) badge remains on the original. 📍Foleshill Congregational Burial Ground 🇬🇧

A visit to Cannock Chase War Cemetery which contains 97 Commonwealth burials of WW1, most of them New Zealanders, and 286 German burials. There are also a small number of burials from the WW2. All are cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 📍Cannock Chase War Cemetery 🇬🇧

Captain Harold Baron, RAF, died of illness contracted during the German South West Africa Campaign. He initially served with the 1st Rhodesia Regiment before applying for a commission with the Royal Flying Corps after the regiment was disbanded. 📍Oxford (Botley) Cemetery 🇬🇧

An army form marked “Most Secret” gives the recommendation for the award of Captain Charles Clynes’ Military Cross. Clynes served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers and was attached to the Special Boat Service, serving in the Mediterranean during WW2. 📍Suda Bay War Cemetery 🇬🇷

In January 1916, Pte Frederick Baxter was shot through the knee while out with a scouting party. He later died in the UK following an amputation. The bullet that wounded him killed an officer; I believe this to be Lt Charles Sandford Ward. 📍Rugby (Clifton Road) Cemetery 🇬🇧

Killed in an aircraft accident during WW2, Walter Gosden, RNZAF, is buried thousands of miles from his home in New Zealand, but just one mile from mine. Remembering him, and the other nine airmen who died with him, on 4 February 1941. 📍Nuneaton (Oaston Road) Cemetery 🇬🇧

Harry Hayes had a long military career, first enlisting with a Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1902. At the time of his death, from influenza, pneumonia and heart failure, he was serving in Scotland as a staff serjeant with the RASC. 📍Nottingham General Cemetery 🇬🇧

Sometimes a headstone gives a heartbreaking glimpse into a soldier’s life. The inscription on 27-year-old Private Abner Harrold’s headstone reveals that he left a wife and two children: Anthony, aged 7, and Ann, aged 4. 📍Cowley (SS. Mary and John) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Patricia Maxwell Sullivan was a member of the Foreign Office and a passenger on an aircraft that crashed en route to the 1945 Yalta Conference, where the “Big Three” were due to meet to discuss the post-war reorganisation of Germany and Europe. 📍Imtarfa Military Cemetery 🇲🇹

Group Captain Frederick Sherriff OBE MC served with the Army in WW1 and later as a physical trainer with the RAF. He was a notable fencer, competing at the 1924 Paris and 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. 📍Donington (St Cuthbert) Churchyard, Albrighton 🇬🇧

Sapper William Lowe Mugliston served with the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps and died suddenly of heart failure. His unit’s war diary recorded: “first death in corps No.4 Sapper W L Mugliston occurred 10.00am buried at 2.00pm.” 📍Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 🇧🇪

Captain Deryck Sherren, Royal Corps of Signals, was killed on active service as the result of an aircraft accident. His name appeared in the London Gazette when he was mentioned in despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field. 📍Stoke (St Michael) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Dr Isobel Addey Tate was a remarkable female doctor who served with the Serbian Relief Fund during the Great War and died in Malta on this day in 1917. 📍Pieta Military Cemetery 🇲🇹

A headstone bearing the name of Captain Ernest Hiscock, Worcestershire Regiment, killed in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Educated at Worcester Royal Grammar School, and Jesus College, Oxford, where he was commissioned from the OTC in August 1914. 📍Atherstone Cemetery 🇬🇧

Hinckley soldier Simeon Sharratt died of wounds on this day in 1915 while serving in France with the Coldstream Guards. It’s interesting to read the words he wrote to his parents in a letter home, written between spells in the trenches. 📍Hinckley Cemetery 🇬🇧

A neat row of headstones in a large cemetery in Ypres. Among them is Private Frank Wilde, Army Service Corps, who died on this day in 1918. 📍Ypres Reservoir Cemetery 🇧🇪

Officer and poet Hugh Reginald (Rex) Freston, Royal Berkshire Regiment, was killed by a shell on this day in 1916. Two volumes of his poetry were published; the second, The Quest of Trust, was published posthumously. 📍Becourt Military Cemetery 🇫🇷

In January 1941, Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was bombed while docked for repairs at Parlatorio Wharf in Malta’s Grand Harbour. The ship’s bell still bears the scars of the attack. 📍National War Museum, Fort St Elmo, Valletta 🇲🇹

A Lockheed Hudson returned early from an operation and crashed into the watch tower while attempting to land at RAF Donna Nook. The aircraft’s bombs exploded, killing the crew and thirteen personnel on the ground, including AC1 William Bell. 📍Beeston Cemetery 🇬🇧

Thomas Lord joined Kitchener’s Army soon after war broke out and was stationed at Perham Down. He died of pneumonia on this day in 1915. His brother Frederick was killed in France in 1916 and is named on the Thiepval Memorial. 📍Barwell Cemetery 🇬🇧

Nineteen-year-old Second Lieutenant Charles Frederick Batty, 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, was killed on this day in 1916 by a bullet when walking back from doing his rounds. His grandfather was the Mayor of Manchester from 1888-1889. 📍Essex Farm Cemetery 🇧🇪

Hurricane pilot Sgt Henry Steeley was killed on this day in 1940 in a mid-air collision. After an air-firing practice over Druridge Bay, he and another Hurricane pilot collided during a mock dogfight, killing both. 📍Kenilworth Cemetery 🇬🇧

German geophysicist Leo Gburek took part in the Third German Antarctic Expedition in 1938/39 and is remembered in Antarctica, where a group of rocky elevations on the ice sheet bear his name…1/2 📍 Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery 🇬🇧

Bomb disposal officer Captain Edward Crump was killed, along with Sergeant Frederick Bumstead, while dealing with a 250kg bomb at the White Ground Estate, Bermondsey, London. 📍Dunton Bassett (All Saints) Churchyard 🇬🇧

Two airmen, an Australian and an American (who was serving with the RCAF), are buried next to each in Warwickshire. They died together when their Airspeed Oxford collided with another aircraft over RAF Church Lawford. 📍Rugby (Whinfield) Cemetery 🇬🇧

A memorial to the crew of a Wellington bomber who were all killed when their aircraft crashed during a cross-country training flight on the outskirts of Hinckley on the night of 14 January 1945. 📍Burbage, Leicestershire 🇬🇧

Always hard-hitting and humbling to see such a young age carved in stone. 📍Essex Farm Cemetery 🇧🇪

The first fatal accidental loss of a Handley Page Halifax occurred on 13 January 1941 during a consumption test flight. One of the six crewmen killed was Sgt John (Jack) Napier Hall from Coventry. 📍Stoke (St Michael) Churchyard 🇬🇧

James Ware, RAFVR, served as ground crew with 514 Squadron. He died after suffering a ruptured aneurysm at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridgeshire, which is not far from RAF Waterbeach where his squadron was stationed. 📍Scarborough (Woodlands) Cemetery 🇬🇧

Private Thomas Howlett, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry, died of wounds at Manchester’s Victoria Red Cross Hospital. In addition to loved ones, his funeral was attended by many Belgians, likely refugees then living in the town. 📍 Ilfracombe (Holy Trinity) Churchyard 🇬🇧

A thought-provoking quote on the wall in the visitors’ centre at the @CWGC’s largest site. 📍Tyne Cot Cemetery 🇧🇪

Victor Hugo Brayne BEM died on this day in 1943 while serving at HMS Flora. A Great War veteran with the D.C.L.I., he later served as a fireman and was awarded for his conduct during the Coventry air raids in 1941. 📍Coventry (Windmill Road) Cemetery 🇬🇧

“Jutland Hero’s Death” was the headline used to report the death of Stoker 1st Class Alfred Ethelbert Tucker, a veteran of the Battle of Jutland who served aboard the dreadnought battleship HMS Agincourt. 📍 Winchester (West Hill) Old Cemetery 🇬🇧

There are 379 casualties buried in this Staffordshire cemetery, including 79 New Zealanders. Among them is Pte George Slade, NZ Medical Corps, who died of cardiac failure under anaesthetic and is buried a long way from home. 📍Cannock Chase War Cemetery 🇬🇧