Memorial Unknown Warrior Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise

"The body of the British
Unknown Warrior
was selected at St Pol
on the night of the
7/8th November 1920
taken to
Westminster Abbey
and interred there
on the 11th November 1920"

On the 7th November 1920, four bodies of unknown British servicemen that had been gathered from the main battlefields of the the Aisne, Arras, the Somme and Ypres were placed in the Military Chapel at the headquarters of Brigadier General Louis Wyatt, Officer Commanding British Forces in France and Belgium, at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. The bodies were placed on stretchers and covered with Union flags and all those associated with the exhumation and delivery of the bodies were sent back to their units, with the exception of the Reverend George Kendall. At midnight General Wyatt accompanied by the Rev Kendall and Lt. Col. E.A.S. Gell entered the chapel and after a period of prayer and reflection, General Wyatt placed his hand on a body that became the 'Unknown Warrior'

A memorial has been erected in the town, opposite the railway station
"The body of the British
Unknown Warrior
was selected at St Pol
on the night of the
7th-8th November 1920,
taken to
Westminster Abbey
and interred there on
the 11th November 1920"
The remaining three bodies were removed and at some stage reburied, possibly about 50 miles away alongside the Albert-Baupaume road to be discovered by the war dead recovery teams and buried anonymously.
The 'Unknown Warrior' was placed in a simple coffin, draped with the Union Flag and remained in the chapel until later that day when it began its journey, under escort, in a battered French military ambulance to the medieval castle in Boulogne, on its way to Westminster Abbey.

Testimonies from those present and official documentation sometimes have contradicting information, such as was the date the 7/8th or 8/9th? How many bodies were exhumed? 3, 4, 5 or 6? Where were those not selected reburied? It is however generally accepted that the first paragraph is the most likely. an instruction from Westminster Abbey that the body should be from 1914 (to avoid having a decomposing body being buried) would suggest that the body was more likely to be a soldier, rather than sailor or airman and from Britain rather than the Commonwealth or Dominions.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: IWM Non Commercial Licence (1), Simon Godly (2), Simon Godly MSM (3)