Watchfield Military Cemetery
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Watchfield Military Cemetery

Watchfield, Vale of White Horse District, Oxfordshire, England

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  • Get directions Watchfield, Oxfordshire, England
    Coordinates: 51.61108, -1.64694
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Watchfield is a hamlet lying 3 kilometres from Shrivenham, the nearest railway station, and about 13 kilometres from Swindon (Wilts). Practically the whole of the hamlet and a considerable part of Shrivenham is War Office property and there is a permanent garrison at Watchfield. During the war it was the Headquarters of a large O.C.T.U. for the R.A. Searchlight and A.A. Battery, and in addition there was a Royal Air Force station there. The military cemetery, which lies east of the Chapelyard of St. Thomas, was opened towards the end of 1939. It is entered through the Chapelyard, from which it is separated by a dividing wall. This cemetery contains the graves of 19 servicemen who died during the 1939- 1945 war, and this total is made up by 10 soldiers and 3 airmen belonging to the forces of the United Kingdom; 1 airman of the Royal Canadian Air Force; 1 airman of the Royal Australian Air Force; 1 soldier of the South African forces and 3 Polish airmen. Originally there were also a Belgian soldier and two Italian soldiers buried here, but after the war their remains were exhumed, the Belgian for repatriation and the Italians for re- burial in the Italian section of Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey.
Watchfield is a hamlet lying 3 kilometres from Shrivenham, the nearest railway station, and about 13 kilometres from Swindon (Wilts). Practically the whole of the hamlet and a considerable part of Shrivenham is War Office property and there is a permanent garrison at Watchfield. During the war it was the Headquarters of a large O.C.T.U. for the R.A. Searchlight and A.A. Battery, and in addition there was a Royal Air Force station there. The military cemetery, which lies east of the Chapelyard of St. Thomas, was opened towards the end of 1939. It is entered through the Chapelyard, from which it is separated by a dividing wall. This cemetery contains the graves of 19 servicemen who died during the 1939- 1945 war, and this total is made up by 10 soldiers and 3 airmen belonging to the forces of the United Kingdom; 1 airman of the Royal Canadian Air Force; 1 airman of the Royal Australian Air Force; 1 soldier of the South African forces and 3 Polish airmen. Originally there were also a Belgian soldier and two Italian soldiers buried here, but after the war their remains were exhumed, the Belgian for repatriation and the Italians for re- burial in the Italian section of Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey.

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  • Added: 15 Jan 2009
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2289732