The War Memorial

THE TWO WORLD WARS of the 20th century are remembered alongside the Bourne Eau by a war memorial and a Garden of Remembrance. It is not recorded how many men left the town to join the armed forces during the 1914-18 war but it is known that 97 men lost their lives on active service and their names are inscribed on the stone cenotaph.

The two panels also include the names of 32 men who did not return from the conflict of 1939-45 and a further three who died on active service before the century ended. During the Second World War, many men also volunteered for service with the Home Guard which raised a total force of 1,600 from the town and district.

The horrors of war came home to Bourne on two occasions, once when bombs were dropped on the southern and western edges of the town and the other when an enemy aircraft crashed on the Butcher’s Arms in Eastgate, killing seven people, some of them soldiers billeted at the inn.

A detailed history of the War Memorial, photographs of its inauguration, the ceremonies that take place here and a list of the names engraved on the cenotaph, are included in A Portrait of Bourne.

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