Thurnscoe Cemetery
War Graves
Remembering The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month
On my travels obtaining information on servicemen and women from Thurnscoe I have come across many sad and horific tales, from men captured and put into POW camps, men whose personality changed so much that they were hated by their families to the merciless slaughter of helpless mariners floating in the open ocean.
I wish I had started this task many years ago.
Had I done so I would have had many more tales to record. Many of Thurnscoe's Heroes have gone but I will ensure they are not forgotten.
In the cemetery you will find information boards on the graves that I have found, though there are many more that I have not yet come across. I was fortunate to discover the family of Private Samuel Blackwell who was killed in action on Saturday 10th February 1917. He lived at 62 Church Street—I was born at 66 Church Street. I spoke to his granddaughter, Mavis Brady, and she gave me a picture and a poem she wrote, which is as follows:
I sit and look at a photograph
Of a man I never knew
I tell him of the heartache as
I know what he went through
I think he would be just an ordinary man
Who daily worked down the mine
The toll was hard, the wages small
To feed and clothe his family of nine
The war was declared, all the world was involved
And this man in this picture, to fight was called
What did he expect, was he afraid this time?
As he stood in the queue, waiting to sign
With thousands of others, his son by his side
But he went anyway, hoping God would guide
He never returned from that, then, faraway land
Never to hold a loved one's hand
Tears did fall, and tears still fall
As I look at this picture, so tattered and torn
But he wasn't ordinary, as I'm proud to say
He was special and brave, to the very last day
And this man in this picture, is smiling, not sad
And this man in this picture, is MY GRANDAD
Soldier of the Month Pte Jack Smith 1/KOYLI
This is 23735964 Private Jack Smith 1st Battalion The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry aged 19 years.
Jack along with Pte Albert Reynolds and Lt Beaumont were on a Night Canoeing excersise crossing LAKE NISSER, whilst at the Outward Bound Training Centre at ISSEFJAER , NORWAY. On the night of the 11th May 1961 they set off to cross the Lake, a sudden Squall arose and capsized their canoes. They were found floating in the lake the following morning and were pronounced dead on the 12th May 1961. Jack and Lt Beaumont were brought back to England, Albert Reynolds is buried in the Hanover Military Cemetery, Germany. The family of Jack Smith and Lt Beaumont wavered the right to have a Headstone for their sons in favour of Repatriation. The Veterans of the 1/KOYLI and Jacks Family have raised £450 to have an Headstone for Jack who is buried in Thurnscoe Cemetery, We hope to have the Light Infantry Buglers and the Banners of the KOYLI Branches at the Cemetery when the inauguration of the Headstone takes place. Jack was buried on his 20th Birthday on 23rd May 1961.