Memorials to the Missing

(Ypres) Menin Gate - inscribed with 54,896 names of the missing

The incredible losses incurred by all protagonists during the four years of conflict from 1914 to 1918 can never be truly understood.   

Travelling around the roads in the north of France it is not difficult to pass a war cemetery or two every few miles.  Some at the side of the road, others perched on an incline in the middle of a field.

In Pas de Calais alone there are some 591 Commonwealth War graves cemeteries.  In Nord another 466 and around the Somme department there are 451, containing hundreds even thousands of burials.  And in other areas of France there are hundreds more cemeteries. 

Yet a majority of the fallen were either never found, and/or were buried in unmarked graves.  More than half a million men with no known grave are remembered on memorials - huge monoliths to the lost. 

Until you stand inside one of the cathedral-like structures and look at the huge tablets of stone etched with 72,000 names -in the case of Thiepval- you can never truly understand the obscenity and futility of it all.

Forty nine Brimington men were never found or identified and are remembered on memorials in Europe, the Middle East and the Dardanelles.  We have managed to visit them all in France and Belgium and continue to do so.


Use the tabs on the left side bar to navigate through the Memorials where our village men are remembered.   Or use the link at the bottom of this page..>

_____________________________________________________________________

The details below are just an indication of the losses and the herculean task of trying to account for and bury our dead, during and after the Great War :

 

 

Buried in names graves     

587,989

No known grave-but listed on a memorial

526,816

Buried but not identified by name

187,861

Not buried at all

338,955

      Figures from CWGC

 

Apart from the larger more well known Commonwealth War Graves Commission  memorials to the missing, there are a number of  divisional, regimental and smaller and private memorials and dedications all over the western front.

Some are significant to the soldiers of Brimington. 

Sherwoods Foresters Memorial at Tyne Cot

IN MEMORY OF
OVER 11,000 ALL RANKS OF
THE SHERWOOD FORESTERS
(NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AND DERBYSHIRE REGIMENT)
WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES
ON THE WESTERN FRONT
BETWEEN 1914 AND 1918

 

At least 40 Brimington men where amongst this number

 

46th (Midland Division) Memorial at Gommecourt, France

 

 

IN MEMORY OF
THE OFFICERS, N.C.O’S & MEN OF
THE 
46TH (NORTH MIDLAND) DIVISION

WHO FELL IN FRONT OF GOMMECOURT ON 1ST JULY 1916 AND FROM THAT DATE TO MARCH 1917

 

Corporal Luther Johnson of Burnell Street, Brimington was killed at Gommecourt on
1st July 1916 – he has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial

A Few Other Memorials -  Personal & Regimental

Not Forgotten Brimington    Not Forgotten Brimington   

If you have any further information about Brimington’s soldiers or need help from us or would like to leave feedback please see contact us page for details

THIS MONTH
WE ARE REMEMBERING

 

 Our Brimington Wreath
laid at the Memorial Gates on Remembrance Sunday
 14th Nov 2021

   Remembrance Sunday 2021

THE SOMME - 1916

Print | Sitemap
(Website built & owned by SMullins) © Copyright SMullins 2015. All Rights Reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced without the authors express consent.