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| The Aims of the Project | ||
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| Thousands of men and women died in the service of Britain and the Commonwealth during two world wars and yet there is no official recognition of their sacrifice. | ||
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| The In From The Cold Project (IFCP) was formed to research and identify all service men and women missing from the official Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) list of casualties from the First and Second World Wars. We are determined to get these soldiers, sailors and airmen their due recognition – even after the passing of so many years. Unfortunately, a large number of names were missed from the lists supplied to the Commission and, as a result, many casualties have no official commemoration. Record keeping was not always as accurate as it should have been back in the pre-computer days of the early twentieth century. With modern technology and greater accessibility to remaining records, it is possible through painstaking and often tedious research to find many of these missing names and to gather the supporting evidence required for recognition by CWGC and the appropriate military authorities. |
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| The Work of IFCP | ||
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| The vast majority of missing names relate to the First World War. The number who died in that first world conflict was far greater as far as the Commonwealth was concerned than in the Second World War and the record keepers had no previous experience to draw upon. Therefore, IFCP has set its first target as finding and submitting for commemoration as many of the missing casualties from the First World War as possible though cases from the second war are also taken up where possible. Initially, the Project is concentrating on those UK personnel who died whilst still in service rather than those who died after discharge as a result of wounds or service-related illness. |
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| IFCP Progress | ||
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| At the time of writing, IFCP has put forward and had accepted for commemoration about a hundred casualties of the First World War – men whose sacrifice had been forgotten and who now have their due recognition alongside their comrades. A small number will have war grave headstones erected but, sadly, the graves of most will remain lost forever. However, their names will now appear on the Menin Gate, on the memorials at Thiepval, Helles, Tyne Cot and on many of the other memorials to the missing maintained by CWGC around the world. | |
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| How Many are Missing? | ||
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| The simple answer to that question is – nobody knows! However, the Project’s early researches indicate that there could be as many as 1,500 British in-service casualties missing from the official Debt of Honour maintained by CWGC. There are many more thousands missing when you take account of those that died after discharge and who would qualify for war grave status if only the authorities knew of them! | |
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This website is provided as a facility for the distribution of news from IFCP and to assist all researchers working on the task of getting non-commemorated servicemen their due commemoration. |
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In From The Cold Project Ensuring that the sacrifice of British servicemen in two world wars is not forgotten. |
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