大象传媒

While researching my family tree this year I discovered that my father's name is carved on a plaque on the Brookwood Memorial in Brookwood Military Semetery in Surrey. It was such a joy for me to find this information. My father was on his way home from fighting in West Africa during the Second World War, and was torpedoed and lost at sea in October, 1942 aged thirty. I was three years old and cannot ever remember seeing him. My mother remarried three years later and we moved away. She never spoke about my father because I had a new 'Daddy' but I often used to think about him.

I made my pilgrimage to Brookwood Memorial Cemetery last month, with my husband. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life. It was a still, autumn day as we approached the Memorial which is surrounded by trees with shades of red, copper and gold - It was so peaceful. The beautiful circular Memorial, built of Portland Stone has fourteen pillars with green slate panels on either side, all inscribed with the names of men in the land forces who were killed in the second World War but have no known graves.

I found my father's name easily. It was on the third panel, second column, John Lachlan MCDonald. I felt sad that I had not Known about it before (the Memorial was unveiled in 1958). I felt joy too, for it was a spiritual and truly cathartic experience, to have found my father at sixty-five years of age.

Beatrice Marion Garnett

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