PW_4_2024

IPA News

Remembering Alan Everall Bob Lea , Treasurer/ Secretary, Staffordshire Branch I have to report the death after a short illness of Alan Vincent Everall, who passed away on the 15th August 2024, aged 88. Alan had been the Chair of the Staffordshire Branch from 1988 to 2013 (25 years) and brought the branch back on its feet. He was always a loyal member of the IPA and was attending meetings up to two months before his passing and will be missed by the branch.

Military Cemetery Visit David King , Surrey Branch Secretary

On Saturday 22nd June 2024 Surrey Branch arranged for a guided tour of Brookwood Military Cemetery. Twenty-two members attended and we were met by our guide Gareth Berry who explained the vast layout to us. The Military Cemetery is owned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is the largest in the UK, covering 37 acres. It also includes a large American cemetery which is the responsibility of The American Battle Monuments Commission. The graves are mainly for those service members from the Commonwealth who died in the UK from their wounds or other causes from the first and second world wars. It also includes an area for Polish and Czechoslovakian, Belgian and Italian sections. There are also some graves for those who died in other conflicts since the Second World War, in which they fought in and died of their wounds in the UK. One grave which was pointed out to us was of a Canadian first nation’s soldier who died in 1942 called “too many wounds” which was his native name and at the bottom of the gravestone were the words he died fighting for our great white father meaning our King George VI. The 1939 -1945 memorial contains some land forces of 3,300 personnel with no known war grave. These include SOE agents who were sent into enemy territory, some of which were captured and executed and their bodies were not recoverable. Included is the name of Violette Szabo, immortalised in the film “Carve her name with pride”, as well as other brave agents. What came as a big surprise to all of us who attended, was that there was so many who died in the first world war from the Spanish Flu epidemic at the end of the war, waiting to go home to Commonwealth and USA after all the fighting in the war. It was a very moving experience for all of us as well as a very interesting tour. I presented Gareth and Rick, the American guide, with a USA IPA pennant on behalf of an IPA friend from California who was due to attend with me, but at the last minute was unable to do so and sent me the pennant to be presented on his behalf. This emphases the warmth and friendship of our International Police Association.

POLICE WORLD Vol 69 No.4, 2024

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