A military cemetery in Suffolk

A walk on the Suffolk coast brought me face to face with a story of courage and tragedy from the Second World War

Where the Rivers Stour and Orwell meet

The photo is of a military cemetery in a quiet and peaceful spot on the Suffolk coast, overlooking the estuary of the River Orwell (you can see the container terminal at Felixstowe in the background). Out of sight to the right is the town of Harwich on the far side of the estuary of the River Stour which joins the Orwell at this point.

A group of headstones

What caught my eye in particular was a group of headstones that were placed much closer together than most of the others. These all bore the inscription “HMS Worcester” and the date 12^th February 1942 (some of them were a few days later, suggesting that the men in question had died from their wounds rather than been killed instantly). The name of the ship meant nothing to me, so I decided to investigate a bit further and discover the story behind these graves.

The story of HMS Worcester

HMS Worcester was a W-class destroyer that was launched in October 1919 and was brought out of the reserve fleet at the outbreak of World War II. At various times she was part of the 16^th Destroyer Flotilla, based at Harwich, and would therefore have been visible from the site of the cemetery when at anchor in Harwich Harbour. The main function of the flotilla was to protect merchant shipping in the North Sea and to undertake patrols.

On 11^th February 1942 three large German warships, namely the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, left the French port of Brest with the intention of sailing along the English Channel to return to Germany by the shortest possible route. This operation, officially named Operation Cerberus, has also become known as the “Channel Dash”. This was a daring move, given that the ships would have to pass within a few miles of the British coast and right under the nose of the Royal Navy.

HMS Worcester was part of the flotilla sent on 12th February to intercept the German ships as they emerged through the Strait of Dover into the North Sea. In the exchange of fire HMS Worcester came off worse, with shells hitting her from all three German ships. Despite serious damage, HMS Worcester survived the encounter, but seventeen lives were lost on board the ship.

After repairs, HMS Worcester returned to active service but struck a mine in December 1943 which again put her out of action. The damage was so great that she was decommissioned and ended the war as an accommodation ship with a new name, HMS Yeoman. She was eventually scrapped in 1947.

The sailors who died in 1942 were buried close together where they lie to this day, in a small cemetery within sight of the sea.

© John Welford

The modern martyrs of Westminster Abbey

Visitors to London’s Westminster Abbey can see a very interesting set of statues just above the main doorway at the west end. These celebrate ten “modern martyrs”.

Empty niches

Cathedrals and other large churches are notable for many things, one them being the serried ranks of statues of saints and bishops that occupy niches on the exterior stonework, with the west front being a common place to find them. However, on many such buildings all one can see are the niches, because the statues have long since disappeared for one reason or other – often out of Protestant zeal to destroy the “graven images” that adorned previously Catholic buildings.

Leaving the niches empty, however, makes the building look incomplete. The impression is of something missing. Is there not a way of dealing with these niches that will cause no offence to anyone?

The modern martyrs of Westminster Abbey

London’s Westminster Abbey solved this problem in a novel and interesting way, namely by commissioning statues of ten “modern martyrs” to stand in a row of niches that had been empty since the Middle Ages. They are on the west front of the Abbey, immediately above the main doors through which monarchs walk to be crowned or married or carried to be buried. They were unveiled on 9^th July 1998 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey.

The people chosen as “modern martyrs” had to meet the criterion of having been killed for their faith or for advancing the needs of others. They are all 20^th century figures and they are from all over the world. The ten martyrs are:

Maximilian Kolbe – a Catholic priest who helped Jews in Poland and who died in Auschwitz in 1941 after offering to take the place of a condemned man.

Manche Masemola – a 16-year-old girl from South Africa who was killed by her parents in 1928 when she converted to Christianity.

Janani Luwum – the Archbishop of Uganda who was murdered on the orders of Idi Amin in 1977.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna – a member of the Russian Imperial family (by marriage) who founded a convent but was murdered by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

Martin Luther King – the American civil rights campaigner who was murdered in 1969.

Oscar Romero – the Archbishop of San Salvador, murdered by a death squad in 1980.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a Lutheran theologian who was implicated in the bomb plot against Adolf Hitler and executed in 1945.

Esther John – a Pakistani nurse and Christian evangelist who was murdered by a Muslim relative in 1960.

Lucian Tapledi – an Anglican in New Guinea who was killed by invading Japanese troops in 1942.

Wang Zhiming – a Christian pastor in China who was executed in 1973 during the Cultural Revolution.

Presumably, had there been more than ten niches available, there would have been other candidates available for inclusion. As it stands, this memorial makes a powerful statement about the fact that people are still dying for their beliefs in the present age. Although most cathedrals only seem to commemorate people who are long-dead and long-forgotten, Westminster Abbey has bucked the trend in a dramatic and highly effective way.

© John Welford