THE ALLIED SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION - UK is dedicated to creating the ALLIED SPECIAL FORCES MEMORIAL GROVE at the NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM which will commemorate the men and women who sadly lost their lives whilst serving with ALLIED SPECIAL FORCES during World War 2 and in the Conflicts since.

2nd. SAS 6025725 180710 319314 2758399 6977054 172271 GHQ 2580970 2385791 RAF 571772 RAFVR 161569 1104656 RCAF J/ 13833 RNZAF 42412	- Leonard Curtis Ian Grant Douglas McKay James Reilly James Simpson Felix Symes - Wilfred Leach Lachlan Taylor - Henry Guy - Frank Copland Albert Swindell - Blake Foy - Leonard Kilgour	- Age 22 Age 24 Age 26 Age 25 Age 30 Age 27 - Age - Age 21 - Age 22 - Age 29 Age 24 - Age - - Age 24	This Memorial was erected by local people in memory of the Soldiers and Aircrew who lost their lives when their aircraft crashed into the hillside near Graffigny on the 23rd. July 1944

The Cemetery at Graffigny - Haute-Marne, France

On that fateful night in July 1944, 13 brave men died and 2 amazingly survived. The soldiers were from SAS and a GHQ Liaison Regiment Phantom Signals detachment which were to be dropped as part of "Operation Rupert" which was centred on the St. Dizier area. The Aircrew were from the Royal Air Force, the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The aircraft went past the first drop zone as there appeared to be "no reception" party on the ground and whilst on route to the secondary drop zone it crashed into the mountain near Graffigny. Some of these men had left their families and homes in the furthest reaches of the Commonwealth to join in the fight for freedom against tyranny and oppression. *God rest their souls.*

"They shall not grow old as we are left to grow old, Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them."