‘Living Memory’ – stories of the men buried in Sevenoaks

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recently launched its Living Memory campaign, designed to encourage local people to remember the men buried at home. The Commission estimates that there are 300,000 such war graves and memorials in the UK and wants to encourage these places to be visited and the men remembered, especially during the anniversary of the Somme, which starts this summer.

The Commission lists five graves at St Nicholas, Sevenoaks, which I’ve written about in an earlier post and it seems a timely moment to write about the war sixteen First World War graves at Greatness Cemetery. The Town Council has produced a booklet which shows the location of these graves at the cemetery (and which also shows the graves from the Second World War).

Six of these men are remembered on the town war memorial and I’ve written about them in my book. Their stories are included below along with the other ten.

Some of these men were evacuated home to Sevenoaks and died from their wounds. Others were taken ill unexpectedly or died accidentally, not having left the UK. Others were billeted here and died from their wounds or disease and were buried locally rather than returning to their…

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