STE. MARIE CEMETERY
On Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Stephen and I visited Ste. Marie Cemetery, which is located in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France. It is a large general cemetery, and it would have been very difficult to find the grave we were looking for without the Cimetiere Sainte Marie map that was given to us by a very helpful man in the office at the West Entrance gate.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website http://www.cwgc.org, Le Havre was one of the ports that was used to disembark British and other Allied troops from August 1914, and housed 3 general and 2 stationery hospitals, and 4 convalescent depots by May 1917. Ste. Marie contains 1690 First World War Commonwealth burials. It also contains 364 Second World War burials.
Frank Humphrey, a bricklayer on enlistment per his service record, who joined the Coo-ees at Gilgandra (and was later discharged, and re-enlisted in February 1916), is the only Coo-ee buried in this cemetery. He died of illness at No. 7 Canadian Stationary Hospital at Le Harve on 23rd August 1916.
The photograph below shows part of the First World War Commonwealth military graves at St. Marie Cemetery. Frank Humphrey’s grave is third from the left in the third row on the left (just in view).
Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France (Photograph: H. Thompson 2/9/2014)
A photograph of the headstone on Frank Humphrey’s grave will be placed on his individual blog entry, and form part of a Roll of Honour for the fallen Coo-ees on this blog.
1915 Coo-ee March 