Remembrance Sundays

< The Turin Men

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Remembrance Sundays

2025

This year’s Remembrance Service for the ‘Turin Men’ was held on Sunday 9 November. The event was arranged by Peter Allen, Chairman of the Turin Esprit Club and took place in the Evangelical Section of the Turin Monumental Cemetery, alongside the graves of the 16 soldiers.

Peter welcomed the Esprit members and their guests and thanked everyone for taking this opportunity to remember all those who had died serving in the armed forces of both World Wars and the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that, ‘In Turin we are here to honour all who died in action but in particular the 16 WW1 soldiers buried in this cemetery’.

 

Peter recounted the story of one of the soldiers, Gunner Alexander Sutherland Mackay who was born in Brisbane, Australia and like many of the other 15 soldiers died in Turin from the effects of the influenza pandemic, shortly before he was due to go home. Unlike the others he was on leave and entered Italy directly after his service on the Western Front in the hope of visiting Rome.  He was with a friend and colleague Bombardier Williams, who later wrote this letter to Gunner Mackay’s mother:

‘We left Milan on the 13^th and arrived in Turin at 6.30pm where we were to remain that night on account of the train not going until the next day. On reporting to the Railway Transport officer he noticed we were unwell and sent us to the 29^th British Stationary Hospital at Turin where we were examined and immediately put to bed suffering from Influenza which developed into pneumonia. I was in the next bed to Gunner Mackay until about 8 hours before he died when I was removed to another ward and from what I can remember he appeared to be very low but was in no pain at all during the 3 days before he died and was quite cheerful until a few hours before I was removed. When I asked the sister next morning how Gunner Mackay was she told me the very sad news that he had passed away. He was buried in the Military Section of Turin Cemetery which is a short distance from the town of Turin’.  Gunner Mackay died on 18 December 1918, aged 34.

 

The service was the conducted by Pastor Giuseppe Platone with readings by Joe Chirone and Peter Allen and the exhortation was delivered by Peter. In keeping with tradition, the name of each soldier was read out during the service and their graves marked with remembrance crosses.

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Post and Reveille were played by Bugler Bruno Faenzi, retired tenente of the Italian Armed Forces. It was also an opportunity for Esprit member Zoe Hall to remember her grandfather, Isaac William Hall and his service in the First World War and one of the guests, Sig.ra Fiorenza Verde read out one of her poems.

We would like to thank Peter Allen for continuing to organise this important service and everyone for honouring the ‘Turin Men’ – they will not be forgotten. We are grateful to Peter Allen and Emma Pace for the photographs.

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2024

This year’s Remembrance Service for the ‘Turin Men’ was held today, Sunday 10 November. The event was arranged by Peter Allen, Chairman of the Turin Esprit Club and took place in the Evangelical Section of the Turin Monumental Cemetery, alongside the graves of the 16 soldiers.

 

 

 

The service began with a short introduction by Peter, who referred to the research undertaken on the lives of the ‘Turin Men’ and he quoted from the Book of Remembrance: ‘most of the soldiers were not casualties of combat from the nearby battlefields but died from illness or disease whilst travelling through Italy from other campaign areas of the First World War. They died between May 1918 and July 1919 and served in the Salonika campaign, the Middle East, India, Italy and France. Most of them had been treated at the B section of 29th Stationary Hospital in Pozzo Strada Turin’.

The service was conducted by Pastor Giuseppe Platone with readings by Joe Chirone and Peter Allen and the exhortation delivered by Peter. In keeping with tradition, the name of each soldier was read out. The Last Post was played by Bugler 1° Tenente Bruno Faenzi. We would like to thank Peter Allen for continuing to organize this important service and everyone for honouring the ‘Turin Men’ – they will not be forgotten.

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2023

This year’s Remembrance Service for the ‘Turin Men’ was held today, 12 November. The event was arranged by Peter Allen, Chairman of the Turin Esprit Club and took place in the Evangelical Section of the Turin Monumental Cemetery, alongside the graves of the 16 soldiers.

 

 

 

The service began with a short introduction by Peter, who reflected on the horrors of war and its human cost, both in the past and in the world today.  It was a particularly poignant day of Remembrance for Peter and some others in attendance as they had recently lost their own loved ones.

 

 

 

Peter welcomed Emma Pace, who was instrumental in bringing the soldiers to the attention of ‘Away from the Western Front’ in 2018. Peter said, ‘The research has in effect brought back to life these soldiers with photographs, details of where they served, where they came from and how they died. We will be eternally grateful to Lyn and Emma for this painstaking work adding an importance to this occasion we had never imagined’.

 

 

 

 

The service was conducted by Pastor Giuseppe Platone with readings and the exhortation delivered by Joe Chirone and Peter Allen.  In keeping with tradition, the name of each soldier was read out and the graves marked with a wreath and poppies. The Last Post and Reveille was sounded by Bugler 1° Tenente (Retired) Bruno Faenzi from the Italian Armed Forces.

 

 

 

 

 

We would like to thank Peter Allen for organising this service and everyone for honouring the ‘Turin Men’ – they will not be forgotten. We are grateful to Emma Pace for the photographs.

 

 

 

 

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2022

On Sunday, 13 November the Esprit Club of Turin held its usual Remembrance Sunday service in the Turin Town cemetery. The event was arranged by the club’s Chairman, Mr Peter Allen and attendees included Esprit Club members and some guests from the UK.

 

 

The service took place in the Evangelical Section of the Turin Monumental Cemetery alongside the CWGC plot where the 16 ‘Turin Men’ are buried. The service was conducted by Pastor Giuseppe Platone with readings and the exhortation delivered by Esprit members. In keeping with tradition, the name of each soldier was read out and the graves marked with Remembrance crosses and poppies.

 

The ‘Last Post’ was played by bugler 1° Tenente Bruno Faenzi from the Italian Armed Forces. We would like to thank Mr Peter Allen for organising this service and everyone for honouring the ‘Turin Men’ – they will not be forgotten. We are grateful to Emma Pace for the photographs.

 

 

 

 

 

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2021

This year, Turin’s Esprit Club was able to hold its usual Remembrance Sunday service in the Turin Town cemetery. It was organised by their Chairman, Mr Peter Allen and attended by Esprit members, guests, 2 local teachers and some RAF military personnel. The service took place alongside the CWGC plot in the Turin Monumental Cemetery, where the 16 ‘Turin Men’ are buried.

 

The service was conducted by Pastor Giuseppe Platone with readings and the exhortation delivered by Esprit members. The name of each soldier was read out and the graves decorated with Remembrance crosses, flowers and a wreath. The Last Post was played by bugler 1° Tenente Bruno Faenzi.

We would like to thank everyone for honouring the ‘Turin Men’ – they will not be forgotten.

 

 

 

 

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2020

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the reintroduction of the local lockdown restrictions, it was not possible for the Turin’s Esprit Club to hold its usual Remembrance Sunday service in the Turin Town cemetery. However, the 16 ‘Turin Men’ were not forgotten and were remembered both in Italy and in the UK. All known descendants had been contacted to update them on this year’s research and to remind them that their ancestors are still in our thoughts.

With the kind support of the Cemetery Services of the City of Turin, it still proved possible to commemorate the 16 ‘Turin Men’ today. Turin’s Esprit Club supplied Remembrance crosses and poppies and these were placed at the graves of the soldiers by Signora Renata Santoro, a member of staff at the cemetery. In addition, Peter Allen, Chairman of the Esprit Club and his friend Fulvio Baravalle prepared a lovely accompanying video to take the place of the usual Remembrance Service. This was based on last year’s Remembrance Sunday service.

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2019

Following the successful Remembrance event of 2018, the Esprit Club of Turin and Emma Pace held a joint commemorative Remembrance Sunday Service this year for the ‘Turin Men’. The service took place at the CWGC plot in the Turin Monumental Cemetery.

Peter Allen, Chairman of the Turin Esprit Club played a key role in organising this year’s event and reported that it was ‘a great occasion with nearly 40 participants including 7 uniformed officers of the British, Australian and Italian armed forces’.

 

 

 

After Peter had delivered the opening remarks, a selection of poems were read by Emma Pace’s students from the School I.S.S Blaise Pascal.

 

 

 

 

 

The service was led by Pastor Thomas Noffke with readings and the exhortation delivered by Esprit members. The names of all 16 soldiers were read out.

 

 

 

 

The Last Post was played by Bruno Faenzi, an Italian colleague of Esprit member Sean Stringfellow of the RAF, who is currently working in Turin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2018

The ‘Turin Men’ were commemorated in Turin, Meana di Susa and Oulx cemeteries on 11 November 2018, the centenary of the Armistice. Emma Pace and students of Class 5H from the school,  IIS Blaise Pascal were able to pay their respects and lay poppies and crosses at the graves of the men whose stories they had been studying. Descendants of Evan Lewis and Alexander Mackay had sent their own tributes on cards and photos which were placed at the graves of their forebears. Other local people joined the ceremony along with representatives from the press and television, which had been arranged by Andrea Parodi from La Stampa. Mr Adam Jones from the British Consulate in Milan officiated and read the Exhortation.

Later in the day Emma made the journey to the cemeteries in Meana di Susa and Oulx to ensure that the two soldiers there were not forgotten. As in Turin, flowers and remembrance crosses were placed at the headstones.