L1A1 pistol grip mod in Aden

[Gil Boyd]

Sad to think that many of the graves in Silent Valley have been desecrated in the last few months during the most recent Civil War of 2017.
The graves of A&SH and Parachute Regiment soldiers who lost their lives are buried there and the A&SH lost 22 on that one days action in the Crater 20th June 1967.

I recently worked on a case with the CWGC on two missing graves of British Paratroopers who they said were definately buried in Silent Valley from 1 PARA and logged as such in all MOD archives and even the National Arboretum.
After a great deal of investigation and delving into a war, which was slightly before my service in the Regiment, I quickly realised noone in the UK really wanted to upset any locals regarding this very important matter, as they, as the graveyard workers feared for their own lives in the most unstable country in the world at the moment.

It turned out the gravestones were actually still there, inferring they were buried there, but in fact, one of the lads was repatriated by his family in 1967 at their cost as they did not want him buried where he wasn't wanted, and the other had drowned in Cornwall on R&R and his body not found till the following year and buried at home in Scotland. History has been re written on those two young lives. RIP

Thank God MOD saw reason after the Falklands War in 82, where repatriation became compulsory.
IMHO it is disgraceful that any soldier of any country should be left behind after any war or conflict on a battle field, in often countries who detest their presence there even today!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Flying10uk]

Sad to think that many of the graves in Silent Valley have been desecrated in the last few months during the most recent Civil War of 2017.
The graves of A&SH and Parachute Regiment soldiers who lost their lives are buried there and the A&SH lost 22 on that one days action in the Crater 20th June 1967.

One would think that the civil war is not going to last for ever and hopefully some form of stability will eventually return. Whatever form of government emerges in the country, once the civil war is over, the one certainty is that they are likely to require large amounts of foreign aid for many years to come. Perhaps we should consider making our giving of any aid to their country conditional on them dealing with/restoring the graves that have been desecrated, to our satisfaction?

[Gil Boyd]

Sadly that falls on the highly motivated groundsmen and women who care for these Commonwealth War graves all over the world, and paid for by donations to the CWGC by Governments and individuals.

I visited Waynes Keep in Cyprus last year which is in No Mans land in the UN Buffer zone on Remembrance Day on behalf of RHQ Parachute Regiment.
The care that the two groundsmen take in a dust bowl very similar to Silent Valley in Aden is outstanding, especially when you consider where it is, in the middle of a war zone left since 1974 untouched, except the graveyard which is immaculate. They are often taken for granted in such difficult areas of conflict, and always worth showing your appreciation by shaking their skilled hands.

I always remember as a young soldier sitting watching one man take two hours to re carve much of the name details on a row of grave stones of Canadians killed on Vimy Ridge.....what skill and patience, my lack of movement was due to a heavy drinking session the night before, but I savoured every moment and it never left me, and motivated me to do what I do in Gravewatch.

The graves in Silent Valley are no different, but the variance of climate and high sandy winds, take their toll on these Portland gravestones, from when I was last there.
A graveyard which often gets forgotten in the middle of the town is Hafoon Cemetery in Ma-Allah, which has been absolutely smashed to pieces during this year and where firing positions have been built with the gravestones rather than fill sandbags as a traditional bullet catcher. Luckily all Military graves now are GPS logged and they may think that we will forget them...................but we shall not, in that we will not be defeated!