75th anniversary Battle Of Britain Day Service
British, Polish and German Airmen to be Remembered
Nuneaton – 13th September 2015
Airmen who lost their lives whilst serving at Nuneaton ‘s two local Wartime airfields will be remembered during a special 75th Anniversary Battle of Britain Day Service.
The funeral of Polish Aircrew from RAF Bramcote in the Oaston Road Cemetery
The service which will be taking place at the Nuneaton’s Oaston Road Cemetery on Battle of Britain Sunday 13th September 2015 is being held to remember those British Commonwealth and Polish airmen who lost their lives while serving at RAF Nuneaton and RAF Bramcote during the Second World War.
The Oaston Road Cemetery is somewhat unique in the fact that the Commonwealth War Graves and those of the Polish and Germans stand together in the same location. In fact there are over 40 Commonwealth War Graves, Navy, Army and RAF, as well as the graves of 29 Polish airmen who were serving in the RAF and 17 German servicemen.
Flt Lt Paul Hincks RAF VR(T) who is helping to organise the service said, “In conjunction with our local ex-service community, we are looking to build on the success of last year’s remembrance service held in Nuneaton’s Oaston Road Cemetery and we would encourage as many people as possible to come along and join us for this year’s special 75th Anniversary service”.
“Battle of Britain Sunday commemorates a dramatic turning point in the history of the Second World War an epic struggle in which the young men from the Commonwealth Nations, Poland and Germany were thrown into combat in the sky’s over Britain ”.
Stepping back in time – Nuneaton’s Battle of Britain Day Parade (thought to be 1958).
“But on Sunday 13th September, when veterans, cadet forces and members of the public gather in the Oaston Road Cemetery at the headstones of the many young men from the different nations who lost their lives, we will be remembering them all as young men who had one thing in common, they all paid the ultimate sacrifice for their respective nations. Every single one of these men was someone’s Son, Husband, Father or Brother, whose fate and a moment of history had brought them together as friend or foe. So I hope that the different sections of our community British, Polish and German will be able to come together once again in a spirit of reconciliation and unite to remember them all”.
Ex-service groups and members of the public are all invited to come along and take part in the Battle of Britain Day Service of Reconciliation on the 13th September at the Oaston Road Cemetery (CV11 6JZ). The parade of standards will be forming up at 13:45hrs and the service is set to commence at 14:00hrs.
Those attending the service are asked to use on street parking in Oaston Road and on the Whitacre Road industrial estate.
We do appreciate the fact that this event may cause some minor disruption to the normality of the Oaston Road Cemetery on this day and there will be a restriction on the movement of vehicles within the area of the War Graves were the service is being held, however we will try to minimise any inconvenience to other visitors to the Cemetery and would actually encourage anyone who may be visiting the site to pay their respects to their relatives to come and join us.