British and Commonwealth Remembrance Project

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British and Commonwealth Remembrance Project

The project remembers the sacrifice of British & Commonwealth Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen in the US We are always looking for volunteers and donors.

Our volunteers range in age from 3yrs old to 80+, and include British, Australian, Canadian and US Citizens. Volunteers fall into three groups those who perform research, visit and tidy graves and fundraisers. We are entirely self funded by public donations and do not received grants from state or federal government. Our annual Poppy drive alone costs over $2,000 and every memorial we erect costs

an average or $3,000. The objectives of the project are as follows
1) to bring together the British & Commonwealth in New England around the concept of remembrance
2) to create lasting memorials to mark the sacrifice of British and Commonwealth servicemen and women.
3) to educate future generations about the concepts of sacrifice, service and remembrances

For further information contact us by sending a message through Facebook

06/02/2026

The Texas Ladies of the Stonehenge Chapter of the DBE in the USA took time out over the Memorial Day weekend to visit Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. There they visited the 4 Royal Air Force graves.

Ronald John Dixon of New Southgate, London. Angus B Eades, of Gateshead, County Durham. John Reid Powell of Mussellburgh, Midlothian Scotland are all buried far from home. Texan Audrey S Cooke volunteered for service with the RAF before the US entered the Second World War. All four of these brave young men died on active service.

Thanks to the ladies from the Stonehenge Chapter, Daughters of the British Empire, for visiting Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery on a particularly wet and rainy day. They placed Union Flags on each of their graves and said prayers for each of the men. Reminding each of them that they are not forgotten!!

Valerie Ryan and the Stonehenge Chapter are planning to visit again on November 11th to hold a Remembrance Day visit.

Thank you Valerie and Stonehenge Chapter DBE in Texas.

05/27/2026

Such great work by our friends at DBE Illinois. Keep it up Lancashire Rose chapter

05/26/2026

“The free world knows, out of the bitter wisdom of experience, that vigilance and sacrifice are the price of liberty.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The debt for our freedom has been paid. This Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of our volunteers have taken time to visit the graves of men and women who died paying the price of our freedom. Here are some of the photos of the Australian, British, Canadian, Indian and New Zealanders we visited.

Canada Remembers

05/24/2026

While many will be at Lake Sebago this week enjoying the official start of summer two British Royal Navy pilots lie 300ft below the water.

Their lives were cut short in Raymond on 16th May 1944. Their aircraft crashed over Sebago Lake during a World War Two training exercise.

In 2024, after extensive work with the Town of Raymond we were able to unveil a memorial to Sub Lts Gill and Knott on the banks of Lake Sebago. Placed in a small park on the edge of the lake, the memorial stone looks out over the water. This stone will ensure that the memory of these young men is not forgotten in Raymond. Each May the townspeople of Raymond continue to decorate the memorial with union flags and poppies in remembrance for their sacrifices!

Lest we forget!

05/15/2026

Nicky & Jim Bollweg, visited the grave of Malcolm Cotton Brown, son of Charles Albert and Caroline (née Cotton) Brown of Hinsdale, Illinois.

Lt Malcolm C. Brown volunteered with the Royal Flying Corps and was a casualty of the First World War. Malcolm was an American citizen who served with British Forces before the US entered the war. While serving a pilot with the Royal Air Force he was killed in an air crash at Brockworth, Glos.

Malcolm's grave is situated in Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook, Illinois. We are grateful to Nicky & Jim for adopting his grave and helping tidy it up a head of Memorial Day.

DBE Illinois

04/25/2026

Their service and sacrifice shall not be forgotten.

04/24/2026

The celebrities of the pre war era served in World War One. Here we remember Robert Archer Bowlby of the Canadian Expeditionary Force,.formerly one half a famous dance couple.

Robert Bowlby was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on 27 February 1887. He was the eldest son of James and Katie Bowlby. He attended the Latin School and followed that by studying for his degree at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

His father was born in Nova Scotia. In 1864, he emigrated with his family to the United States. This was part of a migration from the Canadian Maritime Provinces to the New England economic boom of the 1860s-1890s.

Robert became a professional dancer working in the hotels owned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company. At the outbreak of the First World War he was in Canada and volunteered at Winnepeg.

He was commissioned on 13th May 1916. He shipped out to England. It is reported he went to France and was admitted for Shellshock and weak heart.

On 4th April he sailed back to Canada. Yet for him the war was not over he used his dancing star status to promote the sale of War Bonds. He toured the US (for the US Shipping Board) and Canada promoting donations to the Red Cross and US Liberty Bonds. A promotional pamphlet described him as

"an American who fought with the Canadians in France when the war was new…"

He contracted Spanish Influenza and died on 15th October 1918. He is buried in New York City Woodlawn Cemetery Canada Remembers Consulate General of Canada in Boston

04/13/2026

Thomas Luke Walsh Born 1st October 1887. Enlisted 3 June 1916. He was a Mould maker by trade. Fought in France with the 19th Btn Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was discharged April 1919. He returned to Fitchburg MA aged 32. He died 3yrs later.

Vincent Best was living in New York when he volunteered for war service with the RAF as a Navigator. He flew over wartime Europe as part of the Allied Bomber forces. He returned to the United States settling in Dunstable MA and working in nearby Lowell. He is buried in Dunstable Center Cemetery.

Canada Remembers Consulate General of Canada in Boston Royal Air Force

Vincent Best,

04/10/2026

Today is Vimy Ridge Day. On 9th April 1917, for the first time, all four Canadian divisions were to be assembled to operate in combat as a corps. Brigadier-General Alexander Ross would famously say: “in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”

We remember the bravery and sacrifices of the Canadian soldiers who fought for peace, freedom, and justice. Almost 3,600 of the Canadian soldiers who fought in the Battle did not return home, and many more were wounded and treated at the Canadian field hospitals by the skilled doctors and nursing sisters. Many of these men and women were from New England, serving in a conflict because they shared the same principles of freedom, liberty and justice.
Canada Remembers Consulate General of Canada in Boston

Address

Dunstable, MA
01827

Website

https://www.bcrpusa.org/

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