07/10/2026
🕯️ Remembering the ‘Geluwe Six’
On Tuesday, 6 October 2026, at 5.30 pm, a solemn Memorial Service for the ‘Geluwe Six’ was held at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke.
The service was led by Revd Richard Clement and was organised on the initiative of Kirsten Note, archaeologist and member of the New Ypres League. Kirsten played a key role in the identification of six British soldiers of the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment, who were killed at Geluwe in October 1918.
The six men formed part of a Lewis Gun team positioned along the defensive line when their position was struck by a German trench mortar. For more than a century, these six soldiers remained missing.
In the summer of 2020, their remains were discovered by archaeologists. Following extensive historical research and DNA analysis, all six men could eventually be identified:
🇬🇧 Private Horace Frederick COOK
🇬🇧 Private Frederick MARTIN
🇬🇧 Private Thomas Redvers WHITAKER
🇬🇧 Private Courtney Darville HART
🇬🇧 Private Joseph TURNLEY
🇬🇧 Private Charles Richard RUSSELL
On 10 June 2025, more than a century after their deaths, the six soldiers were finally laid to rest.
The solemn service was attended by a number of patriotic standard bearers. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Municipalities of Zonnebeke and Wervik, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the New Ypres League.
Roger Steward, Chairman of the New Ypres League, read The Exhortation’, adding a deeply moving moment to the ceremony.
More than a hundred years after they fell, these six young men were once again remembered by name.
Their story is a powerful reminder that the missing are never truly forgotten. Through the dedication of archaeologists, historians, researchers and others involved in their identification, the ‘Geluwe Six’ were finally given back their names — and, ultimately, their final resting place.
We will remember them.
🌺 Lest we forget.
Special thanks to Eric Compernolle for the pictures
