Canadian families are working with a group of volunteers in England to restore the headstones of two Canadian airmen buried far from home.

The airmen,  Lieutenants John Bernard “Don” Brophy  and James Menzies both from Ottawa, are buried side by side in the Gainsborough General Cemetery in Lincolnshire, England.  They had been stationed in Gainsborough, about 60 kilometres east of Sheffield,  to intercept Zeppelins  from Germany. Brophy was killed Christmas Eve in 1916 in a flying accident; Menzies’ died in a plane crash in 1917 during an air raid warning.

The headstones of Brophy and Menzies are among a half dozen Friends of the Gainsborough Cemetery Chapels would like to restore. The group, which has nearly raised the  $4,800 required for the project,  searched out Canadian relatives of the two men for permission to restore the headstones, which need to be stabilized and moved slightly to stand on more solid ground.

News stories  have given the families an opportunity to share wartime remembrances with their communities.  Menzies was one of five brothers, four of whom signed up (they decided one brother should not enlist for their mother’s sake).  One of Menzies’ brothers went on to earn a Military Cross for bravery at Vimy Ridge.  The descendant of another brother has a clock made from the hub of the propeller from Menzies’ doomed plane.  Brophy’s war diary is a rare document of the life of a First World War airman.