Churchill’s secret army deserves one last mission to march past the Cenotaph

The team behind the British Resistance Archive calls for Cenotaph honour for members of the Auxiliary Units.
 
Feb. 17, 2013 - PRLog -- Each year we watch proudly as veterans from conflicts across the 20th and 21st centuries march past the Cenotaph in central London. Stories are retold; tales of bravery highlighted and the population of Britain is able to thank them for their sacrifice and commitment to their country.

Amongst those tales of bravery and sacrifice will be those that gave up everything for their families and country with thousands that laying down their lives. However, one group of veterans, who were willing to do exactly that, are sadly not represented at the march past. The Auxiliary Units and the Special Duties Section were groups of civilian volunteers, who during this country’s darkest days during the Second World War answered Churchill’s call and volunteered to ‘stay behind’ in the event of a German invasion. They were to disrupt and where possible destroy the enemy’s supply chain, ‘deal’ with collaborators, and take out strategic targets in their local areas.

Auxiliary Units were highly trained, well equipped volunteers that would literally go underground in the event of an invasion and strike at targets from their operational bases, buried beneath the British countryside. The Special Duties Section would also go underground to pass on messages about enemy movements and the types of units in the area. Such was the danger of their mission these volunteers had a life expectancy of just two weeks after the invasion.

Because of the nature of their mission, they were unable to tell their families and friends and signed the Official Secrets Act. Many are taking their secrets to the grave. The Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART), the researchers behind the British Resistance Archive, have been uncovering  the stories of these brave men and women, and now believe that it’s time that they are recognised for their sacrifice and dedication as Tom Sykes, founder of CART explains.

“As a country we are rightly proud each November as veterans from the huge variety of units and regiments march past the Cenotaph. More recently members of the Home Guard and the Bevin Boys have been included, and rightly so, as their sacrifice should not be forgotten. However, this just highlights the injustice of the Auxiliary Units and SDSs exclusion and we are determined that this should be rectified.

“We are now losing so many members of Aux Units and SDSs that we are running out of time to give them the recognition they so richly deserve. This might be one of our last chances to see these brave men and women march past and for the country to thank them, in many cases, for the first time,” Sykes continues.

The British Resistance Archive team is continuing to lobby the Royal British Legion to include the Auxiliary Units and Special Duties Section members in the march past and already has the support of Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson. CART are calling for the public to write to the Royal British Legion to offer their support for the campaign to get these brave men and women recognised; further details can be found here http://www.coleshillhouse.com/march-at-the-cenotaph-campaign.php


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About CART & The British Resistance Archive.


The Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART) publishes its findings on the British Resistance Archive (BRA) website.

CART also provides an internal network for serious and dedicated researchers who focus on the British Resistance and agree with CART's core value of making the research public.

·         CART is made up of select volunteer historians and published writers known as County Information Officers (CIOS) and also public members.

·         CART is not a business or an academic body of professional researchers.

·         CART is non-profit making and has no financial support from any company or organisation. It is funded solely by donations and the revenue it makes from the sale of various items sold in the shop.

·         Since CART's birth in June 2009 the website has seen over 110,000 unique visitors and has attracted TV, Radio and national press attention.

For further information about CART please go to this page http://www.coleshillhouse.com/about-us.php or call 0872 045 9940 or email hq@coleshillhouse.com
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