A COLONEL is determined to carry on commemorating the fallen in 2015 following last year’s special services to mark the centenary of the First World War.

The first Turning the Pages ceremony of 2015 will take place tomorrow, when soldiers killed in 1915 will be remembered.

The ceremonies, in remembrance of those killed in the two World Wars, are held twice a month at the Military Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral, off St Aldate’s.

Names of soldiers are read out and a page from the Book of Remembrance is turned in its glass case.

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Colonel Mike Vince, a lifelong member of the Army Cadet Force in Buckinghamshire, chooses the names of men who fought with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry to be read out.

He said: “Now that we’re going into 2015 I’ll be picking names of soldiers who died in 1915.”

The infantry lost more than 5,800 soldiers in the two wars.

The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars also feature in the ceremony and chooses its own names.

The Light Infantry names will be read by former infantry soldier Roy Bailey, while the Hussars will be read by Major Jeremy Burnan, commanding officer of the Banbury-based Royal Logistic Corps.

Turning the Pages participated in the nationwide commemorations of the First World War centenary throughout last year.

Col Vince said: “The highlight was when we did an extra service that coincided with the start of the First World War, on August 4.”

The service attracted several hundred people, rather than the usual 50 or so past and present members of the armed forces, Royal British Legion and Oxfordshire Army Cadet Force who attend.

The year 1915 was particularly arduous for the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as it was involved in the Battle of Festubert in May, suffering significant casualties, and in the Battle of Loos in September-October.

The ceremony starts at 11am.

NAMES ON THE ROLL OF HONOUR

Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars

Great War 1914-1918

  • Thomas Percival Stone
  • Daniel Swift, M.M.
  • Frederick John Thomas
  • Charles Henry Thompson
  • Walter Collett Timms

Second World War 1939- 945 

  • Reginald Frederick Quainton
  • Henry Arthur Wisker
  • William Edward Adams
  • Henry Percy Brown
  • Cyril Buckle


Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Great War 1914-1918

  • Arthur Clarendon Hyde
  • Harold Frank Clarke
  • Harry Ballard
  • Thomas Abbott
  • William Frederick Green

Second World War 1939-1945

  • Fred Bevan
  • Kenneth Gordon Grover
  • Philip Lister Ingham
  • Herbert Raymond Nash
  • Eric Turner

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