The Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove

Introduction.
The Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove is a living memorial, in harmony with nature and growing in stature. It is a place for remembrance, commemoration, education and quiet contemplation.
We are pleased to announce that the Friends of the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove have been presented with the Kings Award for Voluntary Services in the very first awards of the reign of King Charles III.

News 27th March 2024

The presentation of the Kings Award to Mike Colton by Mr Ian Dudson CBE KStJ the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire.

Certificate Detail
Signed Charles R
Charles the Third,
By the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories King, Defender of the Faith, to
Friend of the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove
Managing and developing the Commemorative Grove, encouraging visitors to remember the bravery of individuals.
Greeting
We being cognisant of the said groups outstanding work in the community and being desirous of showing Our Royal Favour do hereby confer upon it;
The Kings Award for Voluntary Service
for voluntary service by groups in the community 2023
for such period as the group continues to provide its current service do hereby give permission for the authorised emblem of the said Award to be displayed on the group’s letterhead and other public material.
Given at Our Court of Saint James’s under Our Royal Sign Manual this fourteenth day of November 2023 in the first year of Our Reign.

Introduction to the Grove.
The Grove is laid out in the form of an “Open Air Book”, where every plaque tells a story. Some a sentence, some a paragraph and a few with whole chapters, where you can read about many individuals, military units and civilians who helped Allied Special Forces in WW1 & 2 and in the many conflicts since.
The Grove has an eight sided building called the Sun Room at its heart, with fine views down each memorial way. It is reached by a pathway, which gently meanders past the memorials, trees and shrubs and is entirely maintained financially by the Friends of the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove in support of the National Memorial Arboretum.

Map courtesy of the National Memorial Arboretum a few years ago.

Please use this link to find out more about visiting the NMA. https://www.thenma.org.uk

“Colton’s Tale” etc….

Mike Colton joined the Royal Green Jackets after trying to join the Parachute Regiment in 1967. As the recruiting officer said that they do parachuting in the Green Jackets! So off he goes and managed to be best recruit of the intake and best GPMG gunner. That surprised him more than that his family were there to see him “Pass Out”. So off to Cyprus with the United Nations Peace keeping force and a well deserved UN medal for marching up and down saluting UN flagged vehicles and if it was not moving then painting it white and if it moved then saluting again and again etc. He eventually got to Parachute but had to pay for the benefit of climbing onto the wing of a DeHaviland Rapide, being punched in the ribs to make you jump and attempting to Free Fall and thanks to the “unbelievable” cord, the parachutes opened every time!

During service with RGJ he got to meet up with members of the Special Air Service and eventually managed to pass the rigorous selection course and went onto serve from 1973 and left in 1978. Eagle eyed spotters will find him within these two pictures!

In the 70’s in Dhofar Oman, but where is he in this group of soldiers?

Courtesy of the front cover of SAS Association Hereford Branch Newsletter 1996. This is 22 Troop in Dhofar during the war in the 70’s.

Now all those adventures are over! However, they did lead to Mike establishing the Allied Special Forces Association on the 1st January 1999 with the aim of creating a Special Forces Memorial in Hereford. That did not happen as we became aware of the NMA and were successful in securing a very large plot of land between the River Tame, two quarry lakes and a railway viaduct.

On the 20th March 2003 we met up with David Childs the founder of the NMA and our Treasurer Scarf Jones handed over a cheque for £5,000 as a donation to take over the plot and establish the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove.

David Childs, founder of the National Memorial Arboretum accepting a cheque from veteran Scarf Jones, who was the Treasurer of the Allied Special Forces Association. Thus the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove was started and has continued unabated since the 20th March 2003. Scarf Jones served with the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, the Green Jackets and the Royal Green Jackets.

This is the plot…..some people said that we had lost the plot! But we soldiered on and have now created an everlasting legacy to the bravery of those men and women who helped secure our freedom many years ago and will no doubt do so into the future.

On accepting the mission to create a Grove in honour of Allied Special Forces Mike is pointing to the warning sign close to the Type 24 WW2 Pillbox, which was part of a Stop Line. However he is used to getting into deep water!

They were right as the Grove is situated between the River Tame and the River Trent with much more wet land surrounding it. However we believe that the frequent flooding leaves a blessing on the land!

In 2021 there was no chance to reach the Grove as it was under 2ft of water due to the River Trent flooding down the Poppy Field and the River Tame bursting its banks once more. Just four floods that year but none since then, although we have known floods in July and October!

Annette Colton 1962-2011

At the end of Annette’s Memorial Way you will find her memorial with this most lovely poem which has been adopted as the **“Poem of the Grove”**.

Memorial Text
Annette Colton 1962-2011
Annette was one of our first volunteers in the Grove and worked here from 2003 until she lost her young life from Aspiration Pneumonia and Granulosa Cell Tumour.
Annette’s gentle understanding of nature has helped shape the Grove from its early days and continues evermore with the establishment of Annette’s Memorial Way which ends by this memorial.
Hence this lovely poem……..
They do not leave, they are not gone, they look upon us still.
They walk among the valleys now, they stride upon the hill.
Their smile is in the summer sky.
Their memories whisper in the grass, their calm is in the trees.
Their light is in the winter snow, their tears are in the rain.
Their memories run in the brook, their laughter in the lane.
Their gentleness is in the flowers, they sigh in autumn leaves.
They do not leave, they are not gone.
Tis only we who grieve.

The Phantom Memorial Garden – National Memorial Arboretum

Len Owens, Royal Signals and Phantom Sigs, worked with 2 SAS during “Operation Loyton”

“Operation Flintstone” group with Len are Mike, Richard and Scarf.

Sgt. Len Owens MM – Royal Signals and GHQ Liaison Regiment.

Len who joined the original association in 1999 called Mike Colton and said that he had a problem. The problem was that he needed a one-tonne piece of Coral Granite collected from near Senones in the Rabodeau Valley, Vosges, France and brought to the NMA. So off we went on “Operation Flintstone” and within 2 days we had travelled over 1200 miles and brought Len his stone, thus ending his problem! This stone now sits in pride of place on the Phantom Memorial which is close to the new Aspects Centre and the Armed Forces Memorial.