Our grave responsibility to make sure heroes are not forgotten

Sitting at home, watching this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph, Gary Stapleton couldn’t help but feel that elsewhere in the country one group of war heroes lay forgotten.

A few months ago, the founder of the Doncaster based Victoria Cross Trust began an appeal which he hoped would result in every grave belonging to Britain’s Victoria Cross winners being marked by a simple wreath of poppies. It didn’t seem like a big ask, yet despite Gary’s best efforts, his dream hasn’t been realised.

Today, as the country joins in the traditional silence in memory of all those who have served their country, of the 912 graves recorded by the Trust, just 32 bear an official wreath.

“The response was abysmal,” admits Gary, a straight-talking Yorkshireman who served in the Armed Forces and who comes from a military family. “I don’t think it’s because people don’t care, they do, but most people assume that these graves are looked after by some official body. Even David Cameron was under that misapprehension.”

Gary is referring to a recent Prime Minister’s Question Time when Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey asked whether the Government would assist the Trust in maintaining the graves. By way of reply, the Prime Minister suggested that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission had responsibility for a large number of the graves.

Not so says Gary. In fact they only look after the graves of Victoria Cross winners who were killed on the battlefields of the First and Second Wars.

“That covers about 25 per cent, but what about the rest?,” he says. “What about those killed in the Boer War and the Crimean War? Also you don’t have to die in battle to be awarded a Victoria Cross. There are a lot of men who came back from the war and who died later whose graves are in a terrible state.

“About 600 are in need of a really good clean and a significant number require more extensive restoration. It’s impossible to put even a ballpark figure on what that will cost. For some graves restoration can amount to £1,000. For others it’s more like £25,000. That’s a huge amount of money and the fact is we are competing against a lot of big military charities for attention.

“Organisations like Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion have done amazing things in support of veterans and their families, but the only other charities they support are ones which provide welfare. I understand that, but it can sometimes feel like you are fighting against the tide.”

Gary is probably being a little hard on himself. The Victoria Cross Trust has only been up and running for two years and it’s only in the last 12 months that it has received charitable status and official recognition as military charity from the Ministry of Defence. Its roots can be traced back to the moment Gary spotted the grave of Lance Corporal Thomas Bryan in Arksey Cemetery.

The simple headstone has an inscription of the Victoria Cross, but it reveals nothing of the reason why it was awarded. It was April 9,1917 near Arras, France, that the 35-year-old proved his mettle. Alone and wounded, LCpl Bryan was determined to silence an enemy machine gun and pushing forward without support he worked his way silently and methodically along a trench. Approaching the post from behind, he successfully disabled it and killed the two men who had launched the devastating assault.

LCpl Bryan survived the war and was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V at Newcastle United’s football stadium, St James Park, in the June of 1917. He died in Doncaster in 1945 aged 63 and until Gary stumbled across his grave, his war efforts were in danger of passing into history.

“Some of my family are buried in the same cemetery and I was surprised that I’d never noticed his grave before. I was also annoyed because it was in such a poor condition. It was on a corner plot and cyclists had used it as a bit of a shortcut, so not only was the grave dirty and overgrown, but the grass surrounding it was badly churned up. I was determined to give someone a piece of my mind.”

Frustrated phonecalls to both Doncaster Council and the CWGC followed. However, while both sympathised with Gary, they also made it clear that LCpl Bryan was not a special case – his was the same as any other private grave and in terms of restoration there was nothing that could be done.

Gary thought otherwise. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to erase the image from his mind, he came to the conclusion that if wanted something doing, he would have to do it himself.

Tracking down the relatives of LCpl Bryan, Gary’s initial plan was just to restore that single grave. However, when he discovered a similar fate had befallen hundreds of other VC winners, he soon found himself embarking on a much bigger mission.

“I couldn’t believe it. It was just heartbreaking. There was no one to be angry at, they had just fallen through the cracks. I sat down with a few friends and one of them said, ‘Right Gary, you know what you need to do, you need to start a charity’. I was planning to settle quietly into retirement, but it’s not quite worked out that way.”

Gary admits that the last two years have been a steep learning curve. As well as the wreath appeal, the trust has launched Operation 1358. Named after the number of men who have been awarded the Victoria Cross since 1856, the appeal is looking for individuals, groups, and businesses to commit to raising £1,358 in the next 12 months to fund vital restoration work.

It’s nothing compared to the multi-million pound fund-raising targets of some of the big charities, but Gary admits it has been an uphill struggle.

However, he’s not the kind of man to admit defeat and now a much bigger project is brewing within the trust’s small offices. If Gary has his way, and everything suggests he will, Doncaster will be home to a state-of-the-art military museum.

“We needed a strategy because we knew that we didn’t want to spend the next 20 years raising small amounts of money from selling mugs and badges. I was never going to swim the Sahara or whatever headline grabbing fund-raising drive people go in for now. We needed something long-term and sustainable.

“I began looking around at museums and it suddenly struck me that the one thing we don’t have in this country is a museum dedicated to the history of the British military.

“The Imperial War Museum only goes back as far as the First World War, while the various regimental museums have a very specific focus as does somewhere like the Royal Armouries. These days not many people want to look at medals in glass cases, they want to be told a story and they want to feel involved.”

Over the last few months, Gary has been assembling various exhibits with the help of trustee Duane Ashworth. His son James was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after leading an attack on an enemy-held compound in Afghanistan last year.

“We have had an incredible amount of support, but before we can apply for funding we need to have a premise,” says Gary. “We have been working closely with Doncaster Council and I am hopeful that we can work something out. We want this to be a truly interactive museum that really brings the stories of the past to life.

“I would like to see it open in 2014, the centenary of the First World War. That may be a little ambitious, but what I’ve learned over the last two years is that you have to think big.

“If we can get the museum up and running, then it would not only give us a real platform to promote the work of the trust, but the money we raise from entrance fees would make enormous difference to the amount of restoration work we can do.”

Fast forward to next November and those 912 men awarded Britain’s highest military honour might just be given the recognition they so richly deserve.

To find out more about the Victoria Cross Trust visit www.victoriacrosstrust.org.uk

Father’s last wish for son

When Duane Ashworth was approached to help support the Victoria Cross Trust he didn’t hesitate.

His son James was one of the most recent recipients of the Victoria Cross. The 23-year-old was killed tackling a Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan and while his grave is carefully tended by his family and friends, Duane knows that in 50 or 100 years time that may not be the case.

“I cannot imagine that James’s grave would quite easily be forgotten once I am gone, but evidence all around me proves that is exactly what will happen unless the Victoria Cross Trust is supported.

“He gave his life for this nation, the very least we can do for him and men like him is to ensure their last resting place is treated with dignity.”