Granddaughter of Dieppe Raid casualty visits memorial he is commemorated on for the first time

Descendants and veterans attended a service in memory of those lost during the Dieppe Raid at Brookwood Military Cemetery yesterday.

The remembrance service took place ahead of the 75^th anniversary of the raid on Saturday 19 August.

Before the service, those in attendance were taken on a tour of the cemetery by the Commission’s volunteers and heard about the cemetery’s link to the raid.

Buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery are 43 servicemen who died during the Dieppe Raid, while the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial commemorates 198 servicemen who died during the raid and have no known grave.

Sherri Speers nee Davison was one of the descendants who attended. She saw her grandfather, Sapper Alex Davison’s, name on the 1939-45 Memorial for the first.

She said: “My father is the only one of his siblings who never met my grandfather. It is just going to be surreal for him to know I was able to come here and do this for myself and for him and his surviving siblings.

“It’s so difficult to just walk away from his name. I don’t want to leave here. A part of my heart is right here on the wall.”