Sunday, 7th September 2025 – annual commemoration of Jewish ‘secret war’ casualties, Brookwood Memorial to the Missing, 1939-45, Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.

Several SECRET WW2 representatives joined members of AJEX (led by Mike Bluestone – national
Honorary President and Norman Grant of the Brighton and Hove branch) at this annual ceremony at
Brookwood, also attended by the Defence and Armed Forces Attaché and Assistant Defence and Armed
Forces Attaché from the Israeli Embassy in London.

Messages from family members of the ‘23 Who Went Down With the Ship’ of Operation BOATSWAIN and
the Jewish agents of SOE were read out by Paul McCue who also gave a short presentation on the Memorial
to the Missing and the Jewish personnel of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who are listed on it,
including SOE’s 23 Palmach volunteers – the Kaf Gimel Yordei Ha Sira.

Paul made additional mention of the loss of the lives of 140 Jewish servicemen, serving in the British Army,
who were on the SS Erinpura troopship when it was sunk in the Mediterranean on 1st May 1943. All are listed
on Brookwood’s Memorial to the Missing 1939-45.

Wreaths were placed by the Defence Attaché and by Louisa Russell, Chair of Trustees. The Commonwealth
War Graves Commission was represented by Alex Cadle, Horticultural and Sustainability Manager, who also
placed a wreath.

Among those present was Ian Sharer and his wife. Ian is a family member of Captain Lionel Lee MC of F
Section SOE, listed on the Memorial as having no known grave, believed executed at Gross Rosen
concentration camp in the summer of 1944.

As usual, the SECRET WW2 commemoration at the Memorial to the Missing 1939-45 was followed by
attendance at the monthly ceremony organised by the Brookwood Last Post Association and refreshments
were made available afterwards at the adjacent Trench Experience by our volunteer, Eddie Jones.