| Content Note | Topics discussed:
Approval, signing and amendment of the 373rd Commission meeting minutes:
a) War Graves Agreements – Jerusalem War Cemetery
b) Extension of Appointment of Secretary to the Commission
c) Report of the 417th meeting of the Finance Committee
d) Progress report for the quarter ended 30 June 1954
e) “Show Place” cemeteries in India and Pakistan
f) Unveiling of the Alamein Memorial
g) Article in the Sunday Express criticising the Commission.
Report of the 418th Finance Committee meeting
Item 1 referred to the restoration of the Arras Memorial in Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Arras.
Item 2 dealt with major maintenance at Mazargues Cemetery Extension, Marseilles.
Item 14 dealt with the construction of Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Belgium.
Membership of Joint Committees
Refers to changes in the membership of the Commonwealth-Netherlands Joint Committee and the Commonwealth-Belgian Joint Committee.
Memorials to the Missing 1939-1945 Land Forces
Resolution to revoke proposal to build a memorial at Trondheim (Stavne) Cemetery, Norway; resolution to commemorate those members of the Land Forces haVing no known grave who lost their lives at sea or on land-outside the geographical limits of a campaign, in the Norwegian Campaign and in raids on Norway, and of such others as cannot be linked with any other memorials instead on a memorial in Brookwood Military Cemetery, United Kingdom.
Examination of sketch design by Philip D. Hepworth, F.R.I.B.A., Principal Architect for North-West Europe, for Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany.
Examination of sketch design by Sir Hubert Worthington, A.R.A., Principal Architect for North Africa, for La Reunion War Cemetery, Bougie, Algeria.
48th Quarterly Report for the maintenance of war graves in the United Kingdom to 30 September 1954 - Comments about the erection of collective stones and screen walls in selected cemeteries; number of visitors to the Runnymede Memorial a year after it was unveiled; tour of R.A.F. regional cemeteries; mention that Northern Regional Office had been moved from Liverpool to 'Harrogate and the Midland Regional Office from Nottingham to Cambridge.
City of Hull Memorial, Oppy Wood, France
Resolution for the investment of funds for the maintenance of the City of Hull Memorial, Oppy Wood, Arras, France.
General notes
Mentions that the Commission took note of the paper submitted.
Membership of the Commission
Mentions that Mr Nigel Birch had succeeded Sir David Eccles as Minister of Works and Mrs Pandit had succeeded Mr Kher as High Commissioner for India, with comment that Mrs Pandit was the first female member of the Commission.
Remembrance Day
Refers to arrangements for wreath laying ceremony at Westminster Abbey and a short talk on the Commission’s work in the Home and Overseas Programme of the BBC.
Vice-Chairman’s Visit to Berlin and Cologne
Refers to visit to cemeteries at Berlin and Cologne by the Vice-Chairman Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, G.C.B., D.S.O. and the Assistant Secretary W.J. Chalmers, Esq., C.B.E.
Date of next meeting scheduled for Thursday 18 November 1954 at 11:00am.
ATTENDEES:
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, G.C.B., D.S.O. (Vice Chairman in the Chair)
Frederic Hudd, Esq., C.B.E. (Representing the High Commissioner for Canada)
E. McCarthy, Esq. C.B.E. (Representing the High Commissioner for Australia)
J.G. Hale, Esq., (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand)
D.V. Serrurier, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for South Africa)
T.K. Nandi, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for India)
Captain M. Jan (Representing the High Commissioner for Pakistan)
J.S. Bennett, Esq. (Representing the Secretary of State for the Colonies)
General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, V.C., K.C.B., D.L.
The Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Hopkins, G.C.B.
George Sylvester, Esq., M.P.
General Sir John T. Crocker, G.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C.
General Sir Cameron Nicholson, G.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C.
Captain Sir Harold Campbell, G.C.V.O., D.S.O.
ADVISERS:
Sir Edward Maufe, Esq., R.A., F.R.I.B.A. (Chief Architect and Artistic Adviser)
SECRETARY:
F. Higginson, Esq., C.B., C.M.G.
Also in attendance:
W.H. Bunning, Esq., M.C.
F.C. Sillar, Esq., C.B.E. (Principal Assistant Secretary)
W.J. Chalmers, Esq., C.B.E. (Assistant Secretary)
Major-General J.F.D. Steedman, C.B.E., M.C (Director of Works)
H.L. Simmons, Esq. LL. B (Legal Adviser)
O.D. Holt, Esq., (Principal, Secretarial Branch)
W.K.K. Kinnear, Esq., M.B.E. (Chief Administrative Officer, United Kingdom District) |