Sarah welcomes visitors to Europe’s most iconic battlefield sites

Sarah welcomes visitors to Europe’s most iconic battlefield sites

21 August 2019

A KILLINCHY woman is playing a key role at the heart of the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation in Europe.

Sarah Davidson (23) beat hundreds of applicants for an intern role and over the past four months has been welcoming visitors to some of the most iconic battlefield sites, in particular, those at The Somme and Normandy in France.

The Killinchy woman, who attended Belfast’s Strathearn School, has been based at the largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing in the world — The Thiepval Memorial — on the battlefields of the Somme.

There, she has welcomed visitors of all ages and nationalities, providing tours of the site, answering questions and helping people to find out more information about their own family history. 

The memorial commemorates 72,000 British and South African forces members who died in the Somme sector before March 20, 1918 and who have no known grave. It is also the location 

of 600 Commonwealth and French graves.  

In June, Sarah also attended the National Commemorations in Normandy, marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.

There she met veterans from the Second World War and their families and helped them discover more about the work of the War Graves Foundation, providing tours of the War Graves Commission’s largest Second World War cemetery in Normandy, the Bayeux cemetery, which holds over 4,200 graves of men who fell during the Normandy campaign. 

Sarah was also able to meet former Prime Minster Theresa May. 

The Killinchy woman, who holds a degree in History and Politics from the University of Sheffield, was also asked to attend the opening of Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s new visitor centre, the CWGC Experience. 

And she took the Princess Royal on a tour of the new facility near Arras in France and was able to share with her a little about her role as an intern.   

Sarah also attended a reburial of an Unknown Soldier of the Great War in Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs (Somme) describing her experience with the Foundation as “one like no other.”

She continued: “Every day has been different and unique and I have met so many extraordinary people. 

“I feel very privileged and humbled to be able to share the stories of those who died on the Somme with visitors and I will remember many of the interactions I’ve had for the rest of my life.”

Sarah added: “This internship has also made me aware of how important the work of the Commission is and I have been inspired again and again by its commitment to honour our war dead in perpetuity.” 

The centenary interns programme is described as a “unique opportunity” for young people to travel, live and work in France and Belgium over a four-month period. 

Applications for the 2020 programme open later this year but those interested can sign up to receive more information at www.CWGC.org/interns.  

The internship was launched for the organisation’s 100th anniversary in 2017 and was originally funded by a LIBOR grant from the UK Government.

It is now supported by the CWGC’s new charity – the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF) — which members of the public can join and support via its website, www.cwgc.org 

The Foundation has been specifically created to keep the memory and the stories of those who died in the two world wars alive for generations to come. 

Xavier Puppinck, the Commission’s Director of Western Europe France, explained that the organisation welcomed hundreds of thousands visitors to its cemeteries and memorials in France every year.

However, he said that with the passage of time, many of those visitors are looking to the Commission to provide more information about those who died, the wider history of the two world wars, and the work done to care for such places. 

He added: “We are delighted to have young people such as Sarah on site to be able to guide our visitors and enriching their experience.”