A day out in Kent.

Had a smashing day out with our friends on Wednesday. First stop was the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain memorial at Capel le Ferne near Dover. There's a replica Spitfire & Hurricane & a very interesting  visitors centre in the shape of a wing, once you get upstairs to the café  you can see it has the shape of the elliptical wings of a Spitfire.
We walked over near to the cliff edge of the site, heard the growl of Merlin engine , looked skyward & what should fly over but a bloody Spitfire!! We reckon Stan & Kas had arranged it! I tried to take a photo but was way out so decided just to enjoy watching it fly over. Fantastic! Puts the hairs up on the back of my neck, just brilliant.
Anyway, tea & wads (cake really) in the café & we  were ready to move off.

I wanted to have a look at a cemetery in Dover, as you know, I like a good cemetery, the reason being I have read a very good book about a World War One action called The Zeebrugge Raid on 23rd April 1918. The objective was to sink a couple of old ships in the mouth of the ship canals at Zeebrugge and Ostend to stop U Boats and  motor boats leaving port, a diversionary attack on the harbour (the Mole) was to be made by Royal Marines. All who volunteered for the raid were told to expect that they would not come back and nearly half of the four hundred or so Sailors and Marines who took part didn't! I have read a very good book about the raid which I urge you to read, 'The Zeebrugge Raid 1918  The finest feat of arms' by Paul Kendall ,follow this link to find out more. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeebrugge-Raid-1918-Finest-Feat/dp/0752453327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475769354&sr=1-1&keywords=the+zeebrugge+raid+1918
Sixty six were buried in St James Cemetery in Dover, others were buried in Zeebrugge and some were taken to their home towns.
The men who took part in this raid are all buried together in a mass grave, there are another nine who took part but remain unidentified. Vice Admiral Roger Keyes who commanded  the  force and led it across the Channel requested to be buried with his sailors when he died, so in December 1945 he was laid to rest  with the Zeebrugge Raiders. He was by then Admiral of the Fleet, his eldest son was killed in action during the Second World War in 1941 and is commemorated on his fathers memorial, he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
There was eight VC's awarded for Zeebrugge though none are buried here there is one DSC and a DSM. The award of the VC's is interesting as two were decided by ballot. That is to say the whole unit excelled and no doubt were all bloody brave but it was put to the vote who got the VC. The raid was partially successful, the block ships were not sunk in the exact places they should have been so the channels weren't completely blocked but they did make things very difficult to get U Boats in and out, air photos showed the number of boats within the channels varied very little subsequently.
Churchill described this as 'the finest feat of arms in the Great War and certainly as an episode unsurpassed in the history of the Royal Navy.’ He was probably right. 

Stan before the graves of the Zeebrugge Raiders.

Grave of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Roger Keyes RN.

Memorial to Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes & his son Lt Col Keyes VC.

Close up of the memorial naming the unidentified.

Ornate seat commemorating WW1.

View of the Zeebrugge Raiders graves.

There are three Victoria Cross winners buried in this cemetery, we found two of them.
 Quartermaster Charles Wooden VC won his award during the Crimean War whilst serving in the 17th Lancers, then a Sergeant Major, after the famous Charge of the Light Brigade, in which he rode , he helped retrieve a wounded officer under fire. He went on to serve as QM in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, sadly he committed suicide on 14th April 1876 by shooting himself having had severe headaches the previous week. 

Sergeant Major Charles Wooden VC.17th Lancers.

 

    The second was Lance Corporal William House VC who served with the 2nd Bn The Royal Berkshire Regiment. he won his VC during the Boer War whilst also rescuing a wounded comrade. He too died early, he accidently shot himself while cleaning his rifle! He was only 32. His grave must have been either unmarked or in disrepair as in 1994 his present day regiment The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment had the grave stone photographed put in place.   

Lance Corporal William House VC. 2nd Bn The Royal Berkshire Regiment.