Welcome to the Pembroke County War Memorial
The aim of this website is to remember the men of the County of Pembrokeshire, in South West Wales, who gave their lives during both World War 1 and World War 2.
This site is mostly geared up toward men who fought in the Great War, due to the tremendous amount of research material available, but the men of World War II are not forgotten, being also remembered on this website, and more information will be added as it becomes available. These men are harder to research, as their Service Records are not yet available to the general public, so this will be an ongoing project.
The site will be built up as time and research allows, and as much information as is available will be written on each man, along with any available photos of the men, their graves or the cemeteries that are they lie in. Where I have been able to get details from War Memorials, and men who are not listed on them, but who have ties to that Town or Village will be highlighted. For Towns that I have not got a transcript of the War Memorial for, the rolls will be built up purely through information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Soldier's Died, or newspaper archives, so I am always grateful for any information or photos that anyone can send in of any of their local War Memorials, as I can use the information in my research and ensure that no-one is missed out.
To give some idea of the loss of life in both World Wars, over 16 million people were killed in the Great War. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme alone (on the 1st of July 1916) over 60,000 casualties were incurred by the British and Allied forces (Made up of around 19,000 dead, and the remainder wounded or missing).
During the Second World War, the number of people killed throughout the world was estimated at over 55 million. This stupefying figure includes the mass German slaughters of millions of Russian people and the near extinction of the Jewish Race in Europe.
Estimated Casualty Figures for the County
The Original Pembroke County War Memorial in Haverfordwest was erected in honour of the 3,000 men of the County who gave their lives during the Great War. Research is currently on-going to build this website, and so any additional information is most welcome.
This site will run in conjunction with my existing site, The Carmarthenshire Roll of Honour, and will be run in the same way, with a page dedicated to a specific area in Pembrokeshire, and with a seperate page to remember the men of each of the big Towns of the County. Hopefully in this way, all of the casualties of West Wales will eventually be remembered.
Information and Photographs
The main method of remembering these men is through photographs, either portrait photos of the men them selves, or of their graves or names inscribed on the various memorials. My database of War Grave and Memorial photos is growing constantly, and if anyone requires any, or indeed has any that they would be willing to share, please contact me.
Also, I have published a book to commemorate the Laugharne men, and have a limited quantity available for sale, from a print run of only 200. They are an excellent quality paperback, with 360 pages with all of the details that I have been able to uncover written into the book. It is priced at £15 per copy, plus post & packing of £3 if required, and has been reasonably priced just to cover my printing costs, or can be bought directly from Victoria Bakery or Corran Books, Laugharne.
New information is always being sought for any of the men from the area, and if anyone has any photographs, paperwork, medals or just information about anyone on these pages, please contact me at steve_john@tiscali.co.uk
About the Site Itself
This website will be split into 50 pages. Because of a lack of web-space, the Rolls of Honour have been condensed, whereby Memorials from smaller villages have been placed on the page of their nearest Town or Village, usually by means of utilising the old systems of Parishes.
In addition to these rolls, there are separate pages on the local Infantry Battalion, the Pembroke Yeomanry, and on the R.A.F. in Pembrokeshire, and much more to be added as time allows.
I welcome any information or comments, whether positive or not, as it will help me to form the website, so please feel free to use the Contact Form on the site. (Sadly the Guest Book has had to be disabled to stop vindictive postings).
If you wish to donate toward the costs of running and maintaining the website, please feel free to do so by visiting the Shopping Cart page, where a donation can be made via Paypal. This will help cover the costs involved in obtaining photographs both myself and via Third Party sources such as Bob Pike, who gives me a lot of help. If you require photographs of War Graves or Memorials in Belgium, France, Salonika or Gallipoli which are not of men from Carmarthenshire, then Bob's e-mail address can be found in the Links Section.
**NEW**
Local War Memorial Books
After a lot of work and research, I have decided to publish War Memorial Books for the Villages of Llanddowror, Whitland (including Lampeter Velfrey) and St. Clears, along the same lines of my book on Laugharne. These books are being printed as Hardbacks, with dust jackets, and contain details (and photographs where available) of all of the men of these Villages who lost their lives during both World Wars. I have also republished the Laugharne Roll of Honour in the same Hardback format.
Please check out the Local War Memorial Books page of the site if you are interested. If there is enough interest, more books on the War Memorials of Carmarthenshire will be written and published in due course.
I still also have about 20 copies left of the original paperback Laugharne book, which will be going on sale for £10 each including Postage and Packing. These Laugharne books are still on the Shop page.
Also the Shop page will now be used to sell replica/ replacement WW1 and WW2 Casualty Memorial Scrolls. These Scrolls were issued to the next of kin of every man and woman who lost their lives during the wars. Many of these have been lost over the years, and so this is an ideal opportunity to support the running and developement of this site, and get yourself a nice bit of memorabilia, which can be framed to complement your ancestors medals.
About Myself
I was born in Laugharne, and attended Laugharne V.C.P., and Whitland Grammar Schools. Upon leaving school, I gained an Apprenticeship as a Mechanical Engineer, at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, Aberporth, and have since worked as an Engineer for Dairy Crest, McCain Foods, BMI Healthcare, and now for Muller (yoghurts), where I still work in Engineering- through necessity of supporting my family, not choice! Due to a work-related move to Muller, in Shropshire, I had to give up playing rugby for Laugharne, and found myself with plenty of spare time. This seemed the ideal opportunity to try and unravel the mysteries of the 'John' family tree.
After researching my family tree I discovered that my Great Grandfather, Lance Corporal David Thomas John, of Laugharne, was killed in the Great War. He served as an original member of the 4th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and was one of the original men who landed at ANZAC Cove, on Gallipoli, on the 25th, April, 1915. He survived the terrors of Gallipoli, and fought through the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, being part of the victorious First Australian Division who captured the German stronghold of Pozieres. He died whilst leading a patrol to discover the exact whereabouts of the German Front Line at Mouquet Farm on the 18th August, 1916, aged just 25. His grave was lost in the following fighting over the area, and so he is remembered on the beautiful Villers Brettoneaux Memorial to the Missing, on the Somme. His death left my Grandfather, John William John, fatherless at three years old.
A couple of years back, prompted by this discovery, I wrote a book about the men of Laugharne who died in both World Wars. As a result of the research that I undertook, I began compiling information about the men of the villages nearest Laugharne, but this again escalated, so I decided to undertake the research & compilation of a Roll of Honour for the whole of the County of Carmarthenshire for both Wars. As part of this research, I am in the process of photographing as many of their War Graves and Memorials as possible, and of trying to build up a collection of photographs and information about the men, which is being entered into a database, so far with around 2,800 men who lost their lives in World War One, and over 1,000 men who lost their lives in WW2. Also I discovered that my Great Uncle, Harry Montague Allen of WHitland, was Killed while attacking Mametz Wood with the 15th Welsh, and that my Great Grandmother lost her first husband in the war, Private James Richards of Haverfordwest. This has prompted me to venture into the County of Pembrokeshire, and to start a similar project for the County that will run in conjunction with the original.
The website is the sister site of the Carmarthenshire Roll of Honour-
Carmarthenshire Roll of Honour
Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoy the website, and please feel free to comment, criticise or to send in information- it all helps to build the site!
Steve John
Western Front Association Member No. 14876.
mailto:mail@pembrokeshire-war-memorial.co.uk
Legal Notice
Most of the material used in this website has been photographed and compiled from various sources by the Author, Steven John, except where otherwise noted. Due to the immense amount of hard work, time and money that has gone into the website, I would appreciate that if any material is copied for anything other than personal research, that permission is granted, and acknowledgement is given to this website and the author.
Acknowledgements
None of this work would be possible without a lot of very valuable help, and my gratitude is given to those who have, and still are, helping with this project.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides a valuable, and much forgotten service to the casualties of both world wars, and to their families, by providing a very high quality service with regards to the maintenance and upkeep of the thousands of war graves and cemeteries scattered throughout the world, and by providing information and help to researchers.
My greatest thanks go to the small army of people who have voluntarily submitted photographs and information to both websites, and such information is always welcome. I would like to thanks all of these individuals for their help and input from the bottom of my heart. There really are too many to list, but you know who you are, and thanks!
