Highlighting Hawkinge’s Heroes

Commonwealth War Graves Public Engagement Coordinator Sarah Nathaniel shares an exciting new project preserving the memories of Hawkinge’s Battle of Britain casualties. 

Hawkinge’s Heroes

Working together with the CWGC and funding secured through the Foundation, the Kent Battle of Britain Museum will create resources to advance the education of the local community, schoolchildren and museum visitors on the town’s unique role in The Battle of Britain.

Remembering the fallen of the Battle of Britain at Hawkinge

Image: Sarah, left, has worked closely with the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and the local Lawson Trust on the Hawkinge's Heroes project (photo: Sarah Nathaniel) 

Work is well underway on an exciting project in collaboration with the Kent Battle of Britain Museum to highlight our work and the close connection at Hawkinge to the Battle of Britain and its casualties. 

Around Remembrance this year, we will be unveiling information panels at the Museum which are designed to educate people about the work of the Commission, the casualties they will learn about in the Museum and the fact that they can visit their graves just over the road at Hawkinge Cemetery.

There is a clear need for the information boards to highlight the existence of the historic cemetery plot in Hawkinge Cemetery, which forms a significant part of Kentish history in relation to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain. 

The majority of visitors to the Battle of Britain Museum (around 20,000 each year) are unaware that there are war graves only a 5 to 10-minute walk away, including those of men whose effects and stories are in the museum.

As Commonwealth War Graves Public Engagement Co-ordinator for the South East, I worked closely with the Foundation to secure funding for the project from the local Lawson Trust.

Hawkinge Cemetery

Image: The Cross of Sacrifice in the picturesque Hawkinge Cemetery

Hawkinge Cemetery is very close to the site of the former airfield, just a short ten-minute walk. 

Receiving military casualties from as early as November 1939, the large plot very much reflects its location, containing mostly burials of airmen, around a quarter of whom were killed during the Battle of Britain. 

These casualties died in training, accidents and in combat over Kent and you can visit the graves of many of the men whose stories you can discover in the museum.

There are 155 Second World War graves in the cemetery including 59 German burials.

Kent Battle of Britain Museum

Image: Relics on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum (© Kent Battle of Britain Museum Trust)

We have worked closely with the Museum for a number of years. Our missions are the same: to ensure the stories of those who gave their lives during this crucial period of history are not forgotten. 

The Museum stands on the location of the air base RAF Hawkinge, the first flight from which took place in around 1910. In 1915 the Royal Flying Corps arrived and used Hawkinge as a base to ferry aircraft across the Channel to France. 

Its finest hour came during the Second World War, and the Battle of Britain in particular, when it was the nearest RAF station to enemy-occupied France – the nearest Luftwaffe base was a mere 6 minutes flying time away.

Hurricanes and Spitfires flew down to Hawkinge early in the morning to operate sorties throughout the day before returning inland to a safer position. 

At least 26 fighter squadrons used Hawkinge during the summer of 1940 and it continued to be used as an important base throughout the War.

Sergeant Robert Mercer

Image: Sergeant Robert Mercer (© Kent Battle of Britain Museum Trust)

One of the casualties we commemorate in the cemetery at Hawkinge is Sergeant Robert Mercer, aged 24, who was killed on 9th May 1941; one of 'The Few' who survived the Battle of Britain but was killed later on in the war.  

Patrolling over the Kent coast at Dungeness, Mercer’s plane was hit by Messerschmitts and he headed off up the coast streaming smoke. 

He attempted a forced landing at St Margaret’s Bay where his plane hit a concealed landmine which exploded and killed him.

Mercer was buried in Hawkinge Cemetery on the 16th May 1941.  

His funeral was interrupted when German fighters strafed the airfield, but members of his squadron continued to slow-march after commenting on the enemy’s behaviour being ‘very bad form’

In the 1990s, the engine and propeller of Mercer’s Spitfire were located near St Margaret’s Bay. Following lots of hard work to recover it, the propeller now resides in the museum, where you can find out more about Mercer’s story.

Aims of the Hawkinge's Heroes Project

This story shows clearly the crossover between our work and the work of the Museum and how we hope these panels will encourage visitors to make the short trip over to the cemetery to pay their respects. 

They will be able to do this using our Memory Anchor app which will provide a guided tour of the plot and deliver more information about the casualties buried there.

The launch event will incorporate another important strand of this project: education and our commitment to ‘Sharing the Stories’. 

Local school children from Hawkinge Primary School will be invited to unveil the panels. Following this, they will spend some time in the Museum learning about the Battle of Britain and the importance of RAF Hawkinge to their local history. 

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