British Cyprus memorial plan

The campaign was the last conflict fought by National Service personnel. The 371 UK Service personnel who lost their lives in Cyprus were buried where they died and the British Cyprus Memorial Trust now hopes to raise £200,000 to build a memorial at the old British cemetery at Kyrenia in honour of the dead.

All the money is to be met through public donations. The trust has already raised nearly a quarter of its target which includes a generous contribution from the Royal Marines.

The conflict in what was at the time British-ruled Cyprus came about when on 1 April 1955 a bombing campaign started with attacks on government buildings at Larnaca, Limassol and Nicosia by EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), a nationalist, military resistance organisation trying to claim the island for Greece.

After further attacks in the autumn, in which policemen and servicemen were killed, Field Marshal Sir John Harding arrived as Governor, declaring a state of emergency on 27 November 1955.

EOKA continued a guerilla war on the island until December 1959 when a cease-fire was declared which paved the way for the Zürich agreement on the future of the country.

Cyprus achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1960 with the exception of two 'Sovereign Base Areas' at Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The settlement though explicitly denied enosis - the union with Greece sought by EOKA. A guarantee was also given by Turkey and Greece that neither would annex the independent republic.

Of the 371 British servicemen who died in the campaign, 28 were from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, 69 from the RAF, and 274 from the Army.

Former Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, also President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, served in Cyprus in the early 1960s. He said:

"If we don't recognise these young men they will never be recognised. They are the last from a time when we buried our men who died fighting for their country, overseas.

"Many of the relatives have not been able to visit the graves in a way they would have liked to have done, for example on special dates such as wedding anniversaries or birthdays.

"Wayne's Keep [the British military cemetery where almost all the dead remain] is in no man's land and consequently, unless we do something this year, the 50th anniversary of the end of the conflict, this chance will have gone."

The target date for unveiling and dedication of the double memorial is this year's Remembrance Day, 8 November 2009.

Wayne's Keep is now in the UN Buffer Zone which lies between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north.

Because public accessibility to Wayne's Keep is very difficult the permanent memorial will be sited at Kyrenia, with a memorial book in a church near Wayne's Keep.

Trust secretary Donald Crawford said:

"This was a brutal terrorist-style war. If you were British you were seen as a legitimate target.

"People were kidnapped in public places in broad daylight and murdered.

"In that respect it was like the conflict in Northern Ireland and has parallels with ongoing operations in the Middle East.

"Those were the days when you were buried where you were killed - unless the family could afford to make their own arrangements.

"That is one of the things that makes this campaign so important. It was also the last conflict that was fought by national servicemen. Most of the servicemen who fought were very young, mainly in their twenties."

If you would like more information on the British Cyprus Memorial Trust or to make a donation, please visit the website - http://www.britishcyprusmemorial.org/

This article is taken from the 13 March 2009 edition of RAF News - Voice of the Royal Air Force.