Binsted, Hampshire  - The grave of Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery

This is just a short post in memory of one of Britain’s greatest Second World War heroes. He led the British army in the North African desert against Rommel at El Alamein. Montgomery was a very interesting man. He replaced a man called WHE 'Strafer' Gott as commander of British forces in the desert. Gott was killed in an air crash on the way to take over the command, so Churchill chose BL Montgomery to do the job. Bernard Montgomery was the son of an Anglican bishop and a man of phenomenal discipline who was able to transfer that discipline to his officers.

The battle of El Alamein was the first major allied victory of the war which punctured the Nazi threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and Palestine. It can be concluded that it was the turning point of the North African war.

Holy Cross Church, Binsted

In a quiet little Hampshire village lying four miles north east of the market town of Alton and just off the main A3 road from Portsmouth to London is found the grave of Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery,  Second World War hero of El Alamein. The attractive twelfth century village church, so typically English, is bordered on two sides by a twisting lane that runs through the village centre, flanked by attractive old cottages looking out over the rolling Hampshire countryside.

Holy Cross Church, Binstead

Cottages bordering the church, Binsted

The church itself is worth a visit with its Montgomery memorabilia, including a biography of the great man complete with photos, and a regimental flag hanging from the nave. After a quiet walk around the church one can go and find the grave of Montgomery on the edge of the expansive churchyard. On the other side of the church from the lane stretches a large, flat  rectangular plot full of graves laid out neatly on an American grid pattern. The plot is very open, relatively free from bushes and trees. We wandered among the graves, looking for the target without success. Then we watched a family enter the churchyard and head straight for the correct spot. Hanging around nonchalantly, we ambled over to where they had been after their departure. Right at the end of the churchyard on the extreme right lies the grave, on the edge of a path stretching on into the countryside.  It comprises principally a large grey rectangle of marble with no great decoration.

Montgomery was a man of destiny, who felt that he was being prepared for a special task. He had a deep Christian faith that he was not afraid to display in the deserts of North Africa when facing Field Marshall Rommel. This is the prayer that Montgomery publicly called his officers and men to pray on the eve of battle:

'Let us ask the Lord, mighty in battle, to give us the victory.'

It is a fitting place for an ex-commander of the British army to be buried, near to the home he had retired to, in a peaceful English country churchyard. It is also a testimony in this secular and cynical age of the timeless values that helped bring victory to this nation in its darkest days of war.