Interesting letter received from Commonwealth Graves
Commission.
I wrote to them asking for certain details regarding
the SCLI graves in Aden, they replied with a lot more detail than
I asked for. (Keith)
Dear Mr Petvin-Scudamore
Thank you for your e mail of 21 June 2005. Please accept
our apologies for the delay in reply, this is due to a backlog of
enquiries we are working to clear.
I would firstly explain that our duties are confined,
primarily, to commemorating the dead of the two world wars, those
who died between 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921 and 3 September 1939
to 31 December 1947. The graves of those you seek are not therefore
world war graves, however, we do maintain the grave of Captain R C
Edwards on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, and we hold the following
information in our records:
Casualty: Captain R C EDWARDS, 455015
Served With: Special Air Service Regiment, A.A.C.
Died: 1st - 30th April 1964
Commemorated: MAALA CEMETERY
Yemen
N. 6.
Maala lies on the Southern side of Aden Harbour, halfway
between the Steamer Point and Crater on the main road south of Khromasksar
Airport. The Cemetery is located south of the main road to Crater.
Within the cemetery, on the central avenue beyond the Cross of Sacrifice,
stand the Maala Memorials. The names are inscribed on panels inserted
on three sides of a stone pillar which forms part of a memorial seat
and which also incorporates the Register box.
This Memorial (Maala Memorial No.1) commemorates 65
soldiers who died in or near Yemen during the 1939-1945 War; 33 men
of the Indian Forces who were cremated, and 32 who lie buried in graves
which could not be located or maintained, of whom 27 soldiers belonged
to the United Kingdom Forces and five to the Forces of East and West
Africa and of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
A later extension on the western side of the Maala Memorial
(Maala Memorial No.2) commemorates ten servicemen of the 1914-1918
War and one airman of the 1939-1945 War who were buried at North Point
Christian Cemetery, Kamaran Island and Perim Cemetery, Perim Island.
Kamaran and Perim are remote places at the southern end of the Red
Sea, and these eleven graves can no longer be maintained. The airman
served with No. 203 Squadron, Royal Air Force, which was based at
Aden at the outbreak of the 1939-1945 War.
I understand that the graves of Cpl Roy Collings and
Pte L E Oakley, will eventually be included with those others which
we maintain on behalf of the MOD, however at present we record only
the following: Cpl Collings is buried in Plot 5. Row B. Grave 9 and
Pte Oakley in Plot 5. Row A. Grave 4 in Silent Valley.
With regard to Major P Gooch, his name appears on a
list of non world war casualties who are buried in Maala Cemetery,
however we do not have any grave references and I am sorry to disappoint
you. I give below therefore the address to write to for further information
with respect to this:
JCCC (Joint Cas & Comp Centre)
AFPAA (Armed Forces Personnel Admin. Agency) JPAC (Joint
Personnel Admin Centre)
Building 182
Royal Air Force Innsworth
Gloucester GL3 1HW
01452 712612
I hope that the above information is useful.
Yours sincerely,
Julie Somay (Mrs)
Enquiries Section
