Delighted to read name on Eastbourne civilian war memorial

I have just found your article published on February 26 about the Eastbourne Civilian War Memorial project.

What made me do the search which brought it to light is that I visited Eastbourne just this past weekend, to find the grave of my grandfather, William Boniface.

He was one of the six people killed when a bomb was dropped on Eastbourne station on 16 September 1942. He was a railway worker, and so died while doing his job.

He is buried in Ocklynge Cemetery.

Although I had the plot number I was unable to find his grave but, on the off chance, I telephoned Eastbourne Borough Council from the cemetery and an amazingly helpful bereavement officer there, Victoria Waters, consulted the cemetery records and emailed a map of the cemetery to my ‘phone with the position of the grave marked on it.

As a result, I found his resting place, which I had not seen since I was a small child.

A distant cousin has told me that there used to be a memorial at the station to those who died in this attack but I visited the station and could not find any memorial.

Perhaps it was removed during some alterations at the station.

I was, therefore, absolutely delighted to read that his name will be included among those remembered by the Civilian War Memorial.

Until now, I had no idea that the civilian population of Eastbourne suffered such terrible casualties during the war.

I will try to watch out for any further news of the war memorial project, and I will certainly be making a donation to the appeal.