Commonwealth War Grave at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Southwater.

 Commonwealth War Grave at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Southwater.

The inscription reads 'Private H Bennett Royal Sussex Regiment 3rd May Aged 25'.

Commonwealtj grave stones are erected for all combatabts killed in action. Airmen and sailors' graves are common as members of the crew who were killed could be buried in Britain if the captain or pilot could return home or if the ship was in home waters or the aircraft was shot down in home airspace.

Southwater is just outside Horsham where the regiment was based so he was a local lad.

The Falklands Island conflict in 1981 was the first conflict in which families could elect to have the bodies of loved ones returned home. Up to then soldiers were buried in dedicated military cemeteries located near the place where they were fighting, hence the large cemeteries behind the front lines stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland.

There are two questions; if the First World War ended in November 1918, how come this soldier died in May 1919 and how come he was buried in Southwater? All is explained in my book White to Black but publication has been delayed due to COVID.