North-east veterans have returned from a poignant pilgrimage of remembrance for those killed fighting terrorism 50 years ago.
“You never forget them,” said 75-year-old Jim Lawrence, of Ellon, who was among former Gordon Highlanders who returned to Cyprus this month.
A group of 22 former servicemen and relatives joined others from around the country at the unveiling of a monument on the Mediterranean island, dedicated to British personnel who died there during the bitter EOKA – Nationalist Organisation of Cypriot Fighters – terrorist campaign of the 1950s.
A new eight-panel monument at the historic British cemetery at Girne carries the regimental badges and names of all 371 servicemen killed in the fighting.
Below the engraved Bydand badge of the former north-east family regiment are inscribed the names of 16 men from the Gordons who died during the campaign.
“It was a moving ceremony,” said grandfather Mr Lawrence, of Foresters Terrace.
He was wounded in action while serving in Cyprus with the Gordons’ 1st Battalion during his 1955-57 National Service.
Among an array of wreaths laid at the ceremony, organised by the British Cyprus Memorial Trust and attended by the British High Commissioner, were tributes from The Gordon Highlanders Association, Gordon Highlander Comrades, and Turriff branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland.
In the summer of 1956, 13 Gordon Highlanders died when they were trapped in a forest fire while hunting for EOKA leader General Grivas.
The blaze, which set Army vehicles and ammunition ablaze, was believed to have been started by the fleeing terrorists. Another three north-east soldiers died in terrorist ambushes.
Following the ceremony, the north-east group visited Wayne’s Keep Military Cemetery near Nicosia where Gordons soldiers killed in the fire lie buried side by side.
The soldiers were mostly aged between 18 and 21. On Remembrance Day, poppies were placed in memory of each soldier.
The Gordon Highlanders buried in Cyprus are Lance Corporals David Ferrie and Percy Oakley; Privates Jimmy Cockie, Alex Dunbar, Ian Gray, Robert Burnett, Harry Gerrard, William Gray, Ian Simpson, James Falconer, George McRuvie, Michael Hindle, and Sergeants Stanley Smith and Tony Dow. Taken home after the fire were the bodies of Second Lieutenant Bruce Kynoch, who is buried at Keith, and Private Jimmy Smith, whose grave is in Edinburgh.