The annual Ocracoke British Cemetery ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, May 10, at the cemetery plot along British Cemetery Road.
This year marks the 82nd anniversary of the sinking of H.M.T. Bedfordshire off the North Carolina coast on May 11, 1942. All are welcome to attend the graveside memorial.
Representatives from the British Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy will be in attendance, along with members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and students from Ocracoke School.
Immediately following the commemoration, attendees are invited to the Ocracoke Community Center for a light luncheon.
The annual ceremony, sponsored by the Ocracoke Preservation Society (OPS), goes back to May 1942 when following the Bedfordshire sinking, Alice Wahab Williams donated the land beside Teeter’s Campground in which the bodies of four British sailors are interred .
The Bedfordshire was part of the Royal Navy Patrol Service (RNPS) and was one of 24 trawlers the British government pressed into service as advance-guard mine sweepers and escorts for British supply ships.
Sub-Lt. Thomas Cunningham and Ordinary Telegraphist Second Class Stanley Craig were the only ones identified of the four sailors interred in this small patch of England.
The Ocracoke community, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the Friends of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum have worked together to care for the gravesites and honor these British sailors each year since 1942.
Historian, author, and filmmaker Kevin Duffus will return this year to present a special keynote, multi- media program “War Zone: When World War II was Fought off Ocracoke’s Beaches,” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 10, in the Ocracoke Community Center.
Duffus will share stories of the time when Ocracoke Island was on the front line of the war, when the island lost its innocence, and the lives of our greatest generation were irrevocably changed.
“War Zone” is told from the perspective of everyday people who faced daunting challenges with perseverance, patriotism, and uncommon valor. Many of the interviews conducted by Duffus feature names familiar to, and beloved by, many Ocracokers: Blanche Howard Joliff, Calvin O’Neal, Ulysses Mac Womac, Blanche Styron and Theodore Mutro.
Donations from the public contribute to landscaping the garden area and hosting the luncheon. The U.S. Coast Guard, aided by local and visiting volunteers, provides the physical labor at the site, overseen by a local representative of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. An Ocracoke restaurant caters the luncheon, which is served by community volunteers.
Businesses, residents, and visitors are encouraged to make a donation to help support this event. Please donate online at ocracokepreservationsociety.org/donations or make checks payable to Ocracoke
Preservation Society with “British Cemetery” in the memo line and mail to: OPS, Box 1240, Ocracoke, NC 27960.
OPS is also seeking volunteers for the reception. For more information, contact Sundae Horn at 252-921-0283 or sundaehorn@gmail.com.
