For more than 90 years, people in Gainsborough, England, have been faithfully watching over the graves of two Ottawa airmen killed there during the First World War.
But the decades have taken a toll on the stone monuments, so a local group is looking for descendants of the men to get their permission to restore the proud headstones marking the final resting places of Lieut. John Bernard "Don" Brophy and Lieut. James Arthur Menzies.
"They died a long way from home, so we think it's only right the local community looks after these headstones and makes sure they're kept in good repair," said Peter Bradshaw, a teacher and member of the Friends of the Gainsborough Cemetery Chapels.
The group has already restored the gravestones of a British and a South African airman, which were unveiled recently during a Remembrance Day service.
Bradshaw, 52, said there are six other gravestones the group would like to restore, at an estimated cost of about $4,800. A local charity has offered to cover half the cost and Bradshaw's group has already raised about $1,600, so they're getting close.
If he is able to locate descendants of Brophy or Menzies, they would be welcome to donate, but Bradshaw said that's not why he's trying to find them.
"The intention isn't to raise the money," he said. "The intention is to get permission from the families."
Masons have already inspected the gravestones belonging to the Canadians and say they need to be stabilized and moved slightly to stand on more solid ground.
Brophy and Menzies were stationed in Gainsborough, which is located about 60 kilometres east of Sheffield, to intercept Zeppelins flying across the North Sea from Germany.
It was dangerous work. The airmen flew in the dark of night and many lost their lives.
Brophy died during a flying accident on Christmas Eve 1916, while Menzies was killed the following year during an air raid. They were buried side-by-side in a small cemetery, on the ridge of a leafy slope.
Lieut. Brophy was born in 1893. An Irish Catholic, he grew up on Chapel Street and attended St. Patrick's School and the Ottawa Collegiate Institute (now known as Lisgar Collegiate). He was a gifted football player and apparently viewed the war as just another sport - only one with more violence and greater consequences.
He was one of only two known Canadian airmen to keep a diary during the war, and the only to deal with fighting on the Western Front.
Brophy's father was a civil engineer who worked for the Department of the Interior. He was a widower and had two daughters, Rita and Fawnie.
Menzies was born in 1896 to parents Peter and Isabella. The family lived on Waverly Street and Bradshaw said his name appears on the war memorial at Knox Presbyterian Church on Elgin Street.
His two brothers also served in the war and attended his funeral, according to a local newspaper report from the time. One of the brothers, Albert Percy Menzies, was a Presbyterian clergyman.
Brophy's headstone is a large tablet with a pointed top, engraved with a small branch and leaves.
Menzies' gravestone, which in pictures appears to be leaning to one side, features a large stone cross and the inscription: "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
A third Canadian airman was also buried in the Gainsborough cemetery. Bradshaw said he tracked down Private Carey Pinnock's niece in Toronto, who sent photos of her uncle and a donation to the restoration project.
Three months before his own death, Menzies was injured in the crash that killed Pinnock.
Bradshaw, who teaches history at the Trent Valley Academy in Gainsborough, got involved with the cemetery group about a decade ago after taking groups of students to war cemeteries and battlefields in Belgium and France.
Gainsborough residents have long recognized the great sacrifices made by men like Brophy and Menzies. Many people in the town attended the military funerals for the two men and have kept watch over their graves all these years, he added.
"It's too far for the families to keep an eye on the headstones and make sure they're kept in good order, so we think it's only right that the local people get involved."
Think you are or someone you know is related to Lieut. Brophy or Lieut. Menzies? Let us know. Email mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
READ Lieut. Brophy's First World War diary at http: //www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/ dhh-dhp/his/docs/Pebbles.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment