Tucked away in an unmarked grave among overgrown grass in an English cemetery lies a Maltese sailor.
Carmelo Grech served in the British Navy in World War I and was in the Merchant Navy in World War II when he was captured by Axis forces.
He died shortly after the war ended in Banstead Military Hospital and was buried in the village graveyard.
Some 77 years later, a group of amateur war detectives is trying to track down his relatives so they can finally give him a gravestone and the memorial he deserves.
James Crouch, a member of Banstead History, first came across Grech’s name in the local churchyard’s records last year but, as he regularly conducts tours of the graveyard, was unable to recall ever seeing the name.
After some amateur sleuthing, the history group found the plot of land where they believe Carmelo was buried.
“Carmelo is buried in our village, far from home, a half-bare plot under shady hedge, unmarked by stone,” Crouch wrote in the Banstead History newsletter.
“One would never even know that his grave is there,” Lewis Wood, another member of the group who also happens to be Maltese, told Times of Malta.
Do you know this man?
Grech was born on May 14, 1898 in Senglea. He would quickly take to the seas, becoming a sailor by his teenage years and joining the Royal Navy as a fireman and able-bodied seaman for the first world war.
He then joined a fleet of merchant vessels as a fireman and sailor, leading the group to believe he spent a few years living in the Liverpool area.
During World War II, in March 1941, Grech joined the Merchant Navy and was part of an America-bound 40-ship convoy that unluckily ran into Axis raiders.
Within hours they had captured or sunk 16 of the convoy’s ships, including Grech’s Sardinian Prince vessel.
Carmelo is buried in our village, far from home
The raiders took Grech and other surviving captives back home where they would spend four years in captivity in France and Germany until they were liberated. Exhausted, Grech was evacuated to Belgium and then returned to Britain.
Suffering both mentally and physically, he was admitted to Banstead Military Hospital with psychosis and in the later stages of then-untreatable syphilis.
According to death certificates and church records, he died from dementia paralytica on March 1, 1946, leaving behind a widowed Clementina.
Marking the grave
In order to place a gravestone on Grech’s final resting spot, the group requires absolute confirmation they have the right person.
While they are confident that they do, the group is currently aware of six men named Carmelo Grech who served in the Merchant Navy, Wood said. Mixed with the unclear nature of the records, it means they do not have complete confirmation.
Therefore, the group is looking for people with any information on Grech and his life.
Specifically, Banstead History is looking for information regarding his marriage to Clementina and possibly previous unions with Clemenza Saliba; information about possible descendants; any documents relating to Grech and his family; any photographs or imagery of him and his family; and any knowledge linking the Grech family to 117, Strait Street.
Yet, even with the information they need, erecting a gravestone in Grech’s name may be easier said than done.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) policy, Grech may not be eligible for a war grave as his death was not directly related to the war.
The policy specifies that, for a grave to be eligible, the lost soul had to have died while signed for a voyage and lost their life “as a result of enemy action; died while detained by the enemy; or a result of the increased risks specified in the Pensions (Mercantile Marine) Act 1942”.
If the CWGC deems Grech’s death to not be eligible for a war grave, then a tombstone would be down to Grech’s surviving family or “a group such as ourselves to organise,” Crouch explained.