German and other war graves, Hay Cemetery

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German and other war graves, Hay Cemetery

hay_grave_lancelot_steele_dixonMost of the war graves in this cemetery belong to German and Italian soldiers who died after the Second World War. You can also find here a sculpture (pictured right) carved by a grieving mother for the grave of her RAF pilot son, whose fatal crash she witnessed from her home. See below for details of the war dead here.

Enemy combatants came to Britain as prisoners of war in the last years of the Second World War as the Allies took control of north Africa, France, Italy and other areas. Some prisoners with severe mental illness were sent to a military hospital in the grounds of the Mid Wales Hospital, Talgarth. Those who died were buried in this municipal cemetery, rather than the local churchyard.

The family of German soldier Werner Trautmann arranged for the Hay branch of the Royal British Legion to lay a wreath on his grave each November. This continued into the 21st century.

The remains of one Italian soldier were exhumed in the 1980s for burial in Italy.

On the grave of Lancelot Steele Dixon is a bronze sculpture of fallen Icarus (who in Greek mythology flew too close to the sun, melting the wax on his artificial wings and falling to his death). Lancelot’s mother Christine, a sculptor, lived with Rafael Sabatini (author of Scaramouche and other adventure novels) at Clock Mill in Clifford, north of Hay. As a newly qualified RAF pilot, Lancelot, aged 23, flew over the property on 9 April 1940. He tipped his wings as a greeting but then lost control of the plane and crashed, watched by his mother.

Beside the sculpture are the words Mater Luctuosa Fecit (“made by mother in grief”).

With thanks to Tim Pugh and June Pugh

Postcode: HR3 5DY

 

British war graves

  • DIXON, Lancelot Steele, Pilot Officer (Pilot) 77348. Royal Air Force. Died 09/04/1940 aged 23. Son of Hugh Wainwright Dixon and Christine Dixon, of the City of London. Christine lived at Clock Mill, Clifford, at the time of his death.
  • JENKINS, John, Private 14088773. Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Died 10/06/1947 aged 20. Son of William and Margaret Emily Jenkins, of Hay; brother of Ken Jenkins of Lion Street, Hay. Died on a hospital ship on arrival back in the UK after drinking contaminated water on overseas service. The whole of John’s platoon died from the same illness.
  • MACDONALD, Thomas Carbury, Lance Serjeant 7578156. Killed himself on 26/04/1945. Royal Army Ordnance Corps.

 

German war graves

  • DENNDORF, Georg. Died 24/07/1947 aged 36.
  • GUTMANN, Robert. Died 04/06/1945 aged 30.
  • MENSCHOFF, Nicholas. Died 27/03/1946.
  • OLSCHEWSKI, Emil. Died 10/12/1945.
  • PFEFFERKORN, Max. Died 17/01/1948 aged 44.
  • RÖDIGER, Kurt. Died 06/04/1945 aged 36.
  • SCHARMACH, Erich. Died 01/09/1945 aged 42.
  • SCHWEIDLER, Richard. Died 15/10/1947 aged 40.
  • TRAUTMANN, Werner Hermann Rudolf. Died 24/04/1946 aged 30.
  • WABNER, Anton. Died 24/04/1946 aged 39.

 

Italian war graves

  • GIROLDI, Lisiade, Soldato (equivalent to Private). Died 15/05/1945 aged 39 or 40.
  • LEONE, Vincenzo, Soldato. Died 21/09/1945 aged 23.
  • NUZZO, Michele, Sergente. Died 04/04/1946 aged 35.
  • ROMANELLO, Secondo, Soldato. Died 05/02/1946 aged 29.