The War Memorial

East Garston Remembrance and History


 

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....................                   .................The roll of Honour
...............                                 ..............1914 - 1918
Arthur Bates
 
Bertie Thomas Rivers
Charles Bates
 
Charles Abraham Shaw
Sidney Frank Cullimore
 
Sidney Charles Alexander Smith
William Fisher
 
Arthur Townsend
Alfred Lewis
 
Frederick Townsend
Benjamin Matthews
 
Frederick George Waldron
George Penton
 
Wilfred Edward Wise
 
Charles Andrew Wooldridge
.............                             ....................1939 - 1945
John Matthews
 
George William Penton
William Barrington Miflin
 
David Kibblewhite Pounds

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David Knight has published a book entitled "East Garston : Riot and Requiem" in which he has researched the names of the Military personel that appear on our War Memorial here in East Gartson. By tracking down photographs and articles from a myriad of sources, David has sensitively given us an insight into their lives and families. He has kindly allowed me to reproduce the Requiem part of the book  on this website, for which I thank him most sincerely.  ~ Please click here. or on the link at the foot of the page to read "Requiem"

 

 


 

 
The significance of poppies will be familiar to all, but the reason for the appearance of the Yellow Chrysanthemums on the memorial each year may not. They represent the colours of The Burma Star Association, an organization set up to care for and help the veterans and families of the war against Japan.. The Late Mrs Maynard introduced this floral tribute on V.J Day, ( which marks the end of the war in the far East ) in remembrance of the friends and colleagues of her husband Joe. He himself was injured at 'Pinwe' in Burma. Maureen Tarbox now continues the tribute each year. Her Late father served with General Slim's 14th Army and was also an active member of the Burma Star Association
The Burma Star Association
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning we will remember them
When you go Home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow we gave our today
 
............................................................................Photo Janet Pounds
East Garston's memorial to the First World War, a cross of Cornish granite, was dedicated on 5th December 1920. In 1923 parish council minutes record the erection of an iron boundary fence around the memorial at a cost of just under £17.50. In August 1947 an advertisement was placed in the Newbury Weekly News asking relatives of those who were killed in the 1939-45 war to contact the parish council. A War Memorial Fund raised £27 in the same year, with a Welcome Home Fund of £15.17p A whist drive raised a further £24, which sufficed for an addition to the monument, a block of Cornish granite inscribed with the names of those who fell in the Second World War.

 


 

Village Commemorations

 

Photo : James Pryer
                                                               Photo James Pryer

The 1995 V.E.Day 50 year commemorative celebrations included a 'War Memorial' fly past by a Spitfire flown by owner - Robs Lamplough.
 
Photo : James Pryer
                                                                                           Photo James Pryer

V.E Day 50 year Commemoration service.
1995

                                                                        Photo Ruth Brock


 

War Memorials in General


Strangely, very little is known about many of the country's war memorials, and East Garston is no exception. Although some of the principal monuments are well documented, the ad hoc nature of building most war memorials was such that few records were kept. Many were erected by public subscription, whilst others were provided by a private benefactor, Occasionally it was a combination of both. The sole source of information is often the memory of those who can still recall events just after the First World War, Such was the concern for this situation that a national research project was initiated in 1989 by the imperial War Museum and the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments of England. This will eventually lead to the creation of an information archive on the estimated 54,000 war memorials throughout the British Isles.

East Garston's war memorial is now registered with the Imperial War Museum under reference number 9066.
                                  
(Formerly Friends Of War Memorials) are a registered charity

Photos Ken Tarbox
: Janet Pounds : Ruth Brock : James Pryer


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