On a chilly and damp afternoon several hundred people attended the ceremony today. Surrey Scouts, Woking District Scouts were represented by members across all sections, and the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band led the parade. We were honoured to have the County Commissioner Joe Rogerson in attendance.

The Gordon’s School Pipes and Drums formed the rear of the parade filling the cemetery with the sounds of their bagpipes.

Our Individual Remembrance today was Colonel John Skinner Wilson. Col Wilson was a leading figure in the Scout Association and was directly recruited by General Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement when Baden-Powell was visiting India in 1921.

Wilson ran Gilwell Park for the Scout Association in the early 1920s. He was Director of the Boy Scouts International Bureau for 15 years, responsible for co-ordinating various Scout movements within countries and between them prior to the establishment of World Scout Regions. His role included being responsible for training policy and courses for Scouts.

Wilson introduced an international Scout badge in 1939, a silver fleur-de-lis on a purple background surrounded by the names of the five continents in silver within a circular frame.

As Captain Wilson, he was a member of the British Army Intelligence Corps. He served with Military Intelligence (Research) from July 1940 and then, from December with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). In the SOE, he was determined to introduce many of the requirements for Scout badges into SOE’s training regime. Such badges, still in the Scouting syllabus throughout the wartime years can clearly be equated to SOE’s training syllabus for secret agents, and some of those badges are still awarded today.

Col Wilson did not die in conflict and died in 1969. His private papers are kept by the Imperial War Museum and may be read here.

Our poem today was The Rainbow by Leslie Coulson.

County Commissioner Rogerson delivered a highly motivational and inspirational speech about the benefits of Scouting on young people and how it equips them for later on in life.

The Last Post was sounded by a member of the 1^st Claygate Scout and Guide Band and the Pipers’ Lament was delivered by a lone piper from Gordon’s School.

The Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph were spoken by members of Woking Scouts.

There were wreaths laid on behalf of Surrey Scouts, Woking District Scouts, Woking District Explorer Scouts, The American Battle Monuments Commission and the Glider Pilot Regiment.

Our Standard Bearer was Alan Lopez and our Senior Standard Bearer was Tom Milne who paraded the Union Flag. Rob Bennett led prayers and a blessing prior to the 1^st Claygate Scout and Guide Band playing the National Anthem.

Thank you to the Scouts for providing the sound and Mike for the photos. Thank you to Paul McCue and Graham Deeley for the research into the commemoration of Colonel Wilson.

The subject of our Individual Remembrance today was Able Seaman R Malcolm. Able Seaman R Malcolm was a member of the Anson Battalion Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

The Anson Battalion originally composed of naval reservists surplus to the requirements of manning Royal Navy ships served throughout the First World War. The battalion was briefly in Antwerp in the autumn of 1914, prior to deployment to Gallipoli in April 1915 before finally being sent to the Western Front in the summer of 1916 where they remained for the rest of the war.

Able Seamon Malcolm was killed on 1st October 1918, 105 years ago today just a few weeks before the end of the war. He is commemorated at the Proville British Cemetery in France.

Alan Lopez paraded the Brookwood Last Post standard, and Tom Milne paraded the Union Flag. We had standards from the Artists Rifles, Royal British Legion Knaphill, Bisley and West End Branch and we were delighted to see a young Cub Scout from the 1st Knaphill Scout Group Amstel Cub pack.

Afterwards we retired to the Trench Experience to continue the stories.

We welcomed the Mayor of Woking, Cllr Ilyas Raja to the July ceremony, a ceremony that now traditionally is focussed on Belgium. We were fortunate to have a further distinguished guest with Colonel Bruno Plaetsier, Belgian Defence Attaché attending for the first time.

Prior to the BLP ceremony a short ceremony took place at the Belgian plot with Col. Plaetsier laying a wreath remembering all Belgian forces killed in wars.

Paul McCue led the Individual Remembrance as we remembered Lieutenant Julien Théodore Joseph Marie Detal. Lieutenant Detal was a member of the Belgian Army serving for three and a half years between 1934 and 1937. He then became a reservist and saw action at the beginning of WW2, being taken prisoner in May 1940. He escaped in September 1940 and eventually made his way to England in 1941.

On arrival in England he chose to volunteer for T (Belgian) Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He received parachute and sabotage training and was parachuted into France in September 1941. He was eventually arrested and imprisoned by the Vichy French until he escaped again and reached London, via Spain and Gibraltar, in August 1943.

Having transferred to the F (French) Section of SOE he was again parachuted into France in February 1944, only this time a compromised radio set led the Germans to arrest him on arrival. Detal joined other captured SOE operatives that were deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. On 12 September 1944, he was brutally murdered by hanging and his body disposed of in the furnaces of the crematorium. He was 23 years old at the time of his death and is officially commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial to the Missing. He is also listed at the F Section Memorial in France and at the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. There is a detailed Lieutenant Detal biography below.

Mrs Ruth Moore sounded the Last Post. We had Standards on parade from the Royal Engineers, The Royal British Legion, The Belgian War Veteran Federation, the Woking Royal Naval Association and the Artists Rifles. The BLP Standard was paraded by Alan Lopez.

Wreaths were laid by Col Plaetsier on behalf of the Belgian Embassy and Rudy Peleman on behalf of the Belgian War Veteran Federation.

By coincidence The Red Arrows overflew the ceremony at the most appropriate of times. We are grateful for their participation! Afterwards we had a cup of tea at The Trench Experience.

Thank you to Paul McCue for the extensive research and Mike Hillman for the photographs.