Rifleman
David Griffiths
David was born in Liverpool on 3rd March 1952 and was killed
in Northern Ireland on 30th August 1972 while serving with 3 RGJ. He is buried at Allerton cemetery
After
discovering that David Griffiths name was not on the memorial stone in St
Georges gardens, we also found that his grave remained bare, in the fact that
no headstone was in place.
The reasons behind it were not clear, but according to our sources at the
time there were no living relatives to contact.
One of our members did try at the time to trace relatives through the
cemetery authorities at Calderstones for their permission to lay a headstone
but unfortunately with no success. We knew that his mother and father were
no longer with us, and we understood that he had no brothers or sisters and
the grave had been left unattended for years. There was a glimmer of hope
in that we were told that a memorial cross had been placed on the grave the
year before.
We contacted the Liverpool Echo asking them if they would publicise that we
were looking for relatives of David Griffiths as we needed their permission
to place a headstone on his grave.
The Liverpool Echo publicised everything and more than what we asked for and
on the night it went out we had a call from one of his brothers. He had brothers
and a sister still living and they were only too happy to give us their permission
to lay a headstone.
We started to raise money towards a headstone for his grave and planned to
have it in position before the 25th anniversary of his death. We found a friendly
and sympathetic stone mason who provided us with a headstone of our choice
at cost price.
Members of the branch and members of his family attended a ceremony and layed
a wreath on his grave, now complete with a headstone, at Allerton cemetery
on Saturday 26th July 1997 at 1800 hrs. Later on that evening we held a social
evening at Deysbrook Barracks, Liverpool, so that the family could meet some
of Davids friends and members of our association and some of the people who
had donated to the headstone. .
Rifleman David Griffiths
David was born in Liverpool on 3rd March 1952 and was killed in Northern Ireland on 30th August 1972 while serving with 3 RGJ. He is buried at Allerton cemetery
After
discovering that David Griffiths name was not on the memorial stone in St
Georges gardens, we also found that his grave remained bare, in the fact that
no headstone was in place.
The reasons behind it were not clear, but according to our sources at the
time there were no living relatives to contact.
One of our members did try at the time to trace relatives through the
cemetery authorities at Calderstones for their permission to lay a headstone
but unfortunately with no success. We knew that his mother and father were
no longer with us, and we understood that he had no brothers or sisters and
the grave had been left unattended for years. There was a glimmer of hope
in that we were told that a memorial cross had been placed on the grave the
year before.
We contacted the Liverpool Echo asking them if they would publicise that we
were looking for relatives of David Griffiths as we needed their permission
to place a headstone on his grave.
The Liverpool Echo publicised everything and more than what we asked for and
on the night it went out we had a call from one of his brothers. He had brothers
and a sister still living and they were only too happy to give us their permission
to lay a headstone.
We started to raise money towards a headstone for his grave and planned to
have it in position before the 25th anniversary of his death. We found a friendly
and sympathetic stone mason who provided us with a headstone of our choice
at cost price.
Members of the branch and members of his family attended a ceremony and layed
a wreath on his grave, now complete with a headstone, at Allerton cemetery
on Saturday 26th July 1997 at 1800 hrs. Later on that evening we held a social
evening at Deysbrook Barracks, Liverpool, so that the family could meet some
of Davids friends and members of our association and some of the people who
had donated to the headstone. .
