We were honoured to be joined by many members of the Leccia family, our Individual Remembrance subject for December.
We remembered Lieutenant Marcel Mathieu René Leccia. Lieutenant Leccia was a member of the French Army and a prisoner of war during the second world war. After escaping, he ended up in the UK and joined the Special Operations Executive where he was parachuted into France in April 1944. Captured and deported to Germany, he was executed (hanged) at Buchenwald concentration camp on 12 September 1944. He is commemorated on Brookwood’s Memorial to the Missing 1939-1945.
The Last Post was sounded by Mrs Ruth Moore and our Standard Bearer was Alan Lopez, with Tom Milne carrying the Union Flag. Eddie Jones paraded the French Tricolour Flag.
Afterwards we had refreshments at the Trench Experience.
Thanks to Alan Meeks for the photographs, and Paul McCue for the Individual Remembrance research.
For six years now, Woking District Scouts have held their annual Remembrance Service during the Monthly Brookwood Last Post Ceremony in November. Again this year, the County Commissioner, Joe Rogerson joined us along with the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band.
The 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band led a significant sized parade of Beavers, Cub Scouts, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders numbering around 150 through the cemetery to the RAF Memorial.
We remembered Private A.F. Griffith Williams who was killed in action exactly 107 years ago today on 7 November 1914. He was a member of the Grenadier Guards and a Patrol Leader at the 9th North London Scout Troop.
The Last Post was sounded by a member of the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band. The very moving Piper’s Lament was played by a student from Gordon’s School.
Rob Bennet conducted proceedings, Alan Lopez paraded the BLP Standard and the Union Flag was carried by Senior Standard Bearer Tom Milne.
Joining us today for our October Last Post today were members of the UK Intelligence Corps and the Canadian Intelligence Corps.
The ceremony was dedicated to the memory of those members lost over the years in various conflicts and outside of conflicts.
Col Fox (Retired) talked about the work of the Intelligence Corps in detail and we remembered four individuals.
Capt. John Kenneth Macalister was born in Guelph, Ontario on 19 July 1914. A French speaker, we was studying in France at the outbreak of WW2. Returning to the UK he enlisted in the British Army but was unable to join the infantry due to poor eyesight. He joined the Intelligence Corps in 1941 and subsequently after training joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in April 1943. Parachuted into the Cher Valley in June, he was captured and executed early September 1944 in Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
Major Philip Frank Chamier was born in 1909 at Frankfurt, Germany to an Australian father and German mother. His family circumstances meant he came to the UK and by 1934 was living in Bradford Peverill, Dorset. He worked for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) gathering German military intelligence. His exact fate remains unknown. He was either executed at Ravensbruck or Sachsenhausen concentration camps, died under interrogation in Berlin or during an Allied are raid, age 35.
Capt. Clement Marc Jumeau was born in the Seychelles in 1914. At the outbreak of WW2, he was studying law in Glasgow. Bilingual in English and French he joined the SOE F Section. Commissioned into the Intelligence Corps on 10 July 1941, he was parachuted into France on 10/11/ October 1941 with three other agents. Captured, he soon escaped and returned to the UK via Spain in November 1942. On a mission into France in April 1943, his aircraft was shot down over Normandy. Along with a fellow officer they survived the crash but were soon captured. He contracted TB during a stint in solitary confinement, and without medical intervention, he died on 26 March 1944, age 30.
Lt Michael Cartwright (formally Coulomb) was born in France in 1910. He was a French national serving in the French Army at the outbreak of WW2. He was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1940 and was attached to SIS. Dropped into France in May 1941, he was arrested in July and moved to the Nordhausen complex where V2 rockets were assembled. He fell ill and put into a convoy bound for Lublin but he likely died on the way. He was officially posted as ‘Missing Presumed Dead’ with effect from 10 January 1944, age 34.
Mat Baker sounded the Last Post, Tom Milne carried the Union Flag, and Alan Lopez was our Standard Bearer. Standards were also on parade from the Royal British Legion, The Woking Royal Naval Association, and the Artists Rifles.
The Exhortation, Kohima Epitaph were recited and Wreaths were laid by members of the Intelligence Corps.
At the end of the ceremony, Col Fox and a Lt-Colonel of the Canadian Intelligence Corps inspected the Standards, prior to refreshments at the Trench Experience.
Credits: Paul McCue research and Individual Remembrance text, Alan Meeks, photos.
Brookwood Last Post 