Arboretum Visit Reveals Personal Links

Cadets from Hereford & Worcester ACF were treated to a personal remembrance story with a difference when they visited the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on Sunday.

Organised by Hereford & Worcester ACF Assistant Commandant Major Matt Burrows and attended by eight adult volunteers from across our three companies, the visit included a tour round the 150-acre site and an act of remembrance in its Chapel.

Amid all the grand regimental memorials and beautiful gardens of remembrance, there was one very personal connection cadets discovered.

Leading the group through the trees to an unassuming corner of the Arboretum, Major Burrows told cadets the story of a gunner in the Royal Artillery commemorated with a wooden bench.

After serving in an air defence regiment in the far east, the gunner had been captured as a prisoner of war and interned in brutal conditions – an experience that nearly killed him. After the war, he spent two years recovering from his injuries in hospital.

When he eventually returned to his native Bromsgrove, he married his childhood sweetheart and had a daughter. To cadets’ surprise, Major Burrows then revealed the daughter was his own mother.

“This story is a truly incredible tale of resilience, determination, and stoicism. It’s just wonderful that it played such a formative role in my life,” Major Burrows says.

“My grandfather passed before I was born, so I never had the chance to meet him. But I am so glad his memory has been commemorated by our family with a bench.

“Telling personal stories of remembrance brings history to life and makes extraordinary sacrifices like the ones made by my grandfather tangible.

“On behalf of Hereford & Worcester ACF, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Jo, Gary and Sue at the Arboretum for their help in facilitating our visit. It was a brilliant day and the cadets really enjoyed it.”

Former Cadets Remembered

One of the site’s memorials is poignant for another reason.

In a corner by the Aboretum Chapel, there sits a round bench devoted to the memory of former cadets who gave their lives during military service.

This gave cadets the opportunity to reflect on the lives of Serjeant Paul McAleese and Rifeman William Aldridge, both of The Rifles, who both tragically died serving on operations in Afghanistan in 2009. Both men had previously been cadets with Hereford & Worcester ACF.

In the aftermath of an explosion, Sjt McAleese had been attempting to reach a fallen comrade when he inadvertently triggered a secondary explosion.

Rifleman Aldridge became the youngest British soldier killed in Afghanistan when he died in Sangin in July of that year.

Their names are also commemorated on the Arboretum’s central memorial to service personnel killed in and after the Second World War, and on a memorial for those who died on operations in Afghanistan.

Their names are also remembered on a memorial stone at Hereford & Worcester ACF’s County Training Centre in Tiddesley Wood, Besford, Pershore.

Other Discoveries

The visit afforded the adult volunteers attending the opportunity to reflect on remembrance themes too.

At a garden maintained by The Royal Artillery, Lieutenant Graham Spanswick and Captain Jamie Edwards reflected on their time serving in the regiment. But the tour also yielded a separate discovery.

Passing the central memorial, Lieutenant Spanswick noticed an engraving bearing his family’s name. On further investigation, he has discovered it commemorates his great grandfather, Flight Lieutenant Earnest Thomas Spanswick, who died in 1945.

“To discover a member of my own family on the memorial after all these years was a wonderful surprise–I had absolutely no idea,” Lieutenant Spanswick says.

“I have a family member who came ashore on Gold Beach at Arromanches with The British Army during the D-Day campaign, but I was unaware there was a second who had been commemorated in such a striking way.”

Why We Remember

Remembrance is a core part of the Army Cadet Force calendar. In Hereford & Worcester ACF, we take every opportunity we can to include remembrance activities in events all year round.

The centrepiece of the year is always Remembrance Sunday, during which all cadets are encouraged to participate in local Remembrance parades and reflect on what remembrance means to them.

To find out more about the National Memorial Arboretum, এখানে ক্লিক করুন.