Memorial service to honour heroic Guernseymen

Friday 27 November 2020

A memorial service is due to take place this Sunday in honour of the Guernseymen who fought in World War I as part of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry.

The service will be conducted by the Dean of Guernsey, the Very Reverend Tim Barker, and will include the traditional wreath laying at the RGLI Memorial in the Sunken Gardens.

In late 1916, conscription was introduced for the duration of the war, and the usual Royal Guernsey Militia was disbanded as many of its members became part of what would become the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry.

Following training and a parade on L’Ancresse Common, the RGLI sailed for the Western Front in September 1917, under the command of a fellow Guernseyman, Major-General Beauvoir de Lisle.

One of the RGLI’s most notable contributions to the war effort was during the Battle of Cambrai, an operation that began as a tank raid behind enemy lines to reduce morale, and ended up as a major operation designed to push German forces back a considerable distance.

Pictured: A memorial to the RGLI in Masnières, France, where many Guernseymen lost their lives.

The operation was an initial success, but did not come without losses. The Guernsey troupe was ordered to hold a village called Les Rues Vertes in Northern France during the Battle. Twice over they were driven out by German counterattack, and twice over they retook it.

Their valour came at a heavy cost; of the roughly 1300 men in the RGLI, 327 were killed and a further 667 wounded. In their memory, the service will include a performance of The Last Post by the Boy’s Brigade. 

His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor will be in attendance, along with Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, Lt Colonel Colin Vaudin of the RGLI Charitable Trust, Major Bob Place of the Royal British Legion, and Honorable Consul Odile Blanchette, a representative of France.

The ceremony takes place at noon on Sunday 29 November in the Sunken Gardens.