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Most of the men
and women who died at sea had ‘no known grave’
for obvious reasons. This example shows how they are
remembered. To discover where they died, and possibly
how, you would have to research into the history of
the ship or the service records of the person involved.
Here is some information about a sailor who
was lost at sea.
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Annotations |
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Name: |
MARTIN, ALFRED HOWARD |
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Initials: |
A H |
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Nationality: |
United Kingdom |
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Rank: |
Ordinary Seaman |
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Regiment: |
Royal Navy |
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Unit
Text: |
H.M.S. "Bittern." |
This
is the ship on which he served.
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Age: |
18 |
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Date of Death:
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04/04/1918 |
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Service No:
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J/76472 |
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Additional information: |
Son of Alfred Martin, of Carnkie, Wendron. Welston,
Cornwall. |
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Casualty Type:
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Commonwealth War Dead |
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Grave/Memorial
Reference:
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27. |
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Cemetery: |
PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL |
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The
historical information section has been cut down
for the purposes of this example
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Cemetery: |
PLYMOUTH
NAVAL MEMORIAL |
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Country: |
United Kingdom |
Locality: |
Devon |
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Visiting Information: |
Copies of the Memorial Register are kept at the
Tourist Information Office at Island House, 9
The Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2LS, and also in the
Naval Historical Section at Plymouth Library.
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Location Information: |
The Memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe
which looks directly towards Plymouth Sound. It
is accessible at all times. |
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Historical Information: |
After the First World War, an appropriate way
had to be found of commemorating those members
of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the
majority of deaths having occurred at sea where
no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty
committee recommended that the three manning ports
in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth
- should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable
naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a
leading mark for shipping.
After the Second World War it was decided that
the naval memorials should be extended to provide
space for commemorating the naval dead without
graves of that war, but since the three sites
were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment
was required for each.
In addition to commemorating seamen of the Royal
Navy who sailed from Plymouth, the First World
War panels also bear the names of sailors from
Australia and South Africa; the governments of
the other Commonwealth nations chose to commemorate
their dead elsewhere, for the most part on memorials
in their home ports.
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Number
of Identified Casualties: |
23183 |
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