British Flag in cemeteries and other Union Flag chat

The pro and cons have been discussed at lenght before (either here or at ww1 forum), but it does look great, doesn't it?

Curtesy of the people of Cognac.

Regards,

Marco

 

Shame it's upside down

 

Andy,

Very well spotted.

I wonder who is in distress?

Regards
Tom

 

Is it not common to fly the national flag in British cemeteries?

 

'Preciate all the enlightening responses.

 

'Preciate all the enlightening responses.

I felt the same in the 'Guard telling the crowd to shut up' thread

 

Can't say I have seen the Union Flag flying in a British Cemetery on the continent.For the French, for the larger cemeteries,it is the norm to fly the tricolour.

On the occasion illustrated,it might have been flown by the locals,hence the flag flown in distressed fashion.Military types usually do not make the mistake.

Once saw the Union Jack flown by Danish hosts to greet a British contingent.It was immediately recognised as being flown in the distressed mode by those who had had military experience.It stayed in that mode while we were there and did indicate the condition of some, as our visit progressed.....good friendships were forged and are still ongoing after 30 odd years.

 

IIRC there's one or possibly two at Dunkirk and the only other two I can think of which aren't CWGC sites are at Wormhoudt where the barn and the memorial stone of the massacre are situated. All of these were being flown correctly the last time I was there.

 

Is there such a thing as a 'British' cemetery ? Aren't they all 'Commonwealth' ?

The British (and Commonwealth) attitude to remembrance doesn't seem to be one which requires displays of nationalism. The CWGC cemeteries reflect a sense of loss rather than victory.

The graves do of course have service or regimental headstones. Perhaps the loyalty lies there ?

 

I saw a few on my trip to many of the smaller cemeteries.

This one from St. Philbert-Sur-Risle in Eure.

.JPG]

A local gentleman on seeing I was from Australia, (I was placing flags) said the village people were proud to tend the graves of these brave British and Australian aviators.

The four crew of a Mitchell bomber crashed there on 23/07/1944.

Source:
AWM 237 (65 ) NAA : A705, 166/26/522 Commonwealth War Graves records
Aircraft Type: Mitchell
Serial number: FV 985
Radio call sign:
Unit: ATTD 98 SQN RAF
Summary:
Mitchell FV985 took off from RAF Dunsfold, Horsham, Sussex, at approx 1500 hours on
23rd July 1944, detailed to bomb railway yards at Glea/Montfort, France, from a height of
10,000 feet. While the bombs were being released over the target, an explosion occurred,
and it was believed a bomb from the aircraft exploded in the bomb bay or just after
leaving the aircraft. The aircraft disintegrated in the air and all the crew were killed.
The explosion also caused casualties in three other aircraft in the box formation.
Crew:
RAF Sqn Ldr Paynter, H Captain (Pilot)
RAF PO Dodd, J (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
RAF Flt Sgt T F Riley, (Wireless Operator Air)
RAAF 400658 PO McGregor, R A (Air Gunner)
All the crew are buried in the Saint Philbert-Sur-Risle Communal Cemetery, Locality
Eure, France. Saint Philbert-Sur-Risle is a village and commune, 12kms south west of
Pont Audemet and 48kms north west of Evreux. It is also near the town of Montfort.
The above four airmen are the only WW2 fatalities buried in the cemetery.

 

Drew
You beat me to it re the Union flag flying upside down, but it was a nice gesture
rotherfield

 

Quite odd from our standpoint. We even have US flags flying at strictly civilian cemeteries. Here in the South, you may still even see the occasional Confederate flag flying if there are veterans from that era buried there.

Do you not fly flags at your homes on certain holidays?

 

Today,1 November,All Saints' Day.The day (le jour de la Toussaint) where you will find the French making a special effort to clean up and decorate the graves of their dead.

British war graves are usually included in this loving care.Remember finding the grave of Bill Reid's (VC) Flight Engineer (Stewart?) in a small hamlet of Germaine,north of Epernay.His grave was well kept,his CWGC tombstone kerbed and obviously had been adopted by those locally.

Good to see the Union Jack flying in foreign cemeteries,commemorating our dead.

As regards the reference to "British" cemeteries,the CWGC has been through a number of identities since grave registration commenced in 1915.

May 1917 .Imperial War Graves Commission.

1960.In the wake of "the winds of change",the IWGC was renamed the CWGC.

I would think that the cemeteries were described as "British" from the early days of the Great War.

Vendresse,Vadencourt and Vailly CWGC cemeteries,for example, with their origin in the Great War are still entitled as "British" in their formal title.

 

Rich,

I believe that you are correct as all Commonwealth Countries flags should fly together and not just the UK's Union Flag.

Whenever we attend CWGC Cemetrery for a Remembrance Sunday here in Berlin we always seek permission from the Commonwealth Embassy that is organising the event.

Here in Berlin the Australian Embassy are in charge this year and it rotates every year.

The RBL Standard is at the CWGC Cemetery on Heerstrasse for 10.00am and the Union Standard is at Stahnsdorf CWGC Cemetery for 11.00am.

Due to the distance between both locations were are unable to have both at any one location.

Regards
Tom

 

Invaded, meh. You would probably be surprised how many Union Flags there are flying around here. There be a lot of you Limeys lurking about. We're watching you, though, danged fureigners.

There are several people in my neighborhood who have lighted, in-ground flag poles and fly the Stars and Stripes 24 hours a day. Then a large number of people have removeable poles attached to their homes and fly the flag on special occasions. I suspend my flag vertically from my front porch soffit as needed.

Get out in the country far enough, you will see a large number of Confederate flags flying in the place of Old Glory. The war has been over for almost 150 years. It is time to move on. B)