War Graves

Within the last five years, the forgotten role of Black service personnel in the First and Second World Wars has been investigated by authors such as Stephen Bourne, Mark Johnson and Linda Hervieux.[1] Collectively their research has demonstrated that men and women of African descent served in the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force as well as on the Homefront during both global conflicts. Building upon their works we have released stories on the Merchant Marine, the West Indian Pilots and Ground Crew as well as WAAF Lilian Bader, to demonstrate the local presence of Black service personnel in Hull and East Yorkshire during World War One and Two. However, while most of these stories are overwhelmingly positive, it has been possible for us to highlight the sacrifices made by people of African descent during war with stories such as the death of Adolphus Meheux. To add further layers to this theme, we have found the graves of four Black servicemen who were linked to East Yorkshire.

Two of the graves belong to Byron Martin and Wilfred Octavius Dawns, who were both overcome by severe illnesses while training at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey. It is believed that 19-year-old Martin died of Meningitis on 7 August 1944, and 24-year-old Dawns of pneumonia on 17 January 1945. [2] Both were likely transported to one of the many military hospitals in North Yorkshire before they died, which explains their burials in Stonefall Cemetery, Harrogate.

The other two graves belong to servicemen Vivian Florent and Patrick Constantine Marshall, who perished within a month of each other after separate flying accidents. London born Florent had joined the RAF in 1941 and after two years was promoted to Sergeant Air Gunner.[3] On 8 June 1944, he boarded a Halifax bomber at RAF Pocklington listed as a flight engineer. Shortly after the aircraft had taken off, it ran into difficulties and the plane crashed at Home Farm, Seaton Ross. Sadly, Florent and the rest of the crew perished. He was laid to rest in Pocklington Burial Ground. A month later, Jamaican Patrick Constantine Marshall who trained as an Aircraftsman Second Class at Filey in the summer of 1944 suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, we know very little regarding the circumstances of his death. However, the inscription on his grave suggests that he perished in a flying accident while in East Yorkshire on 21 July 1944. He is buried with the other Jamaican recruits in Harrogate.

Hull Daily Mail, 8 June 1944

Byron Martin's gravestone

Wilfred Octavius Dawns' Gravestone

Patrick Constantine Marshall's Gravestone

Footnotes
[1] Stephen Bourne, Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War (Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2014) and Stephen Bourne, The Motherland Calls: Britain’s Black Servicemen & Women 1939-45 (Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2012); Mark Johnson, Caribbean Volunteers at War: The forgotten story of the RAF’s ‘Tuskegee Airmen’ (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2014); Linda Hervieux, Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes (Gloucestershire: Amberley, 2015).
[2] Wartime Recollections: Brenda Gray (nee Downs) http://www.angelfire.com/de3/fileycasualties/Brenda_Gray.htm  [accessed 02/04/2017]
[3] With thanks to Stephen Bourne for bringing Vivian Florent to our attention and for his support. For more information on Vivian Florent see Stephen Bourne, The Motherland Calls, p. 125-126.