Military Memorials

Behind the Traditional Chapel altar lie the Military Memorials.

The wrought Iron gates were given in memory of those who were lost in the Second World War: many of whom attended ‘farewell’ services in this very church.

Various standards (Regimental Flags) stand or hang proudly behind the gates.

St.John’s is privileged to house the full complement of ex-service organisations: spanning land, air and sea, from those who landed at Gallipoli in 1917 to those who serve today.

Alongside the standards is a scale model of a Spitfire generously given by members of the Polish Free Air Force in memory of their comrades. Blackpool Airport was a key centre for the Royal Air Force and many service men and women were billoted here during the war. The church’s long association with the Air Training Corps and Royal Air Force Association began soon after.

Each year, a service of commemoration is held to mark the Battle of Britain.

Within the memorial area lie various Books of Remembrance and Rolls of Honour.

A memorial to H.M.S. Penelope (sunk off Anzio in 1945) resides here because it was ‘the town’s ship’; paid for by the people of Blackpool (you may like to see her bell in the Town Hall).

A special service with the support of the Royal Naval Association, (for whom the incumbent is customarily Honorary Padre) is held each year to commemorate her, and all who, having served in the Royal Navy, have now ‘crossed the bar’.

A second memorial records the losses of the ‘Blackpool’ Regiment

(presently the Lancashire and Cumbria Gunners/ Royal Artillery).

At the fall of Singapore, many became Far Eastern Prisoners of War, making the church a place of pilgrimage for those who returned, and creating a firm link with the remarkable F.E.P.O.W. association which exists to this day.

Above the memorials stands a set of windows encapsulating Christ’s challenge to care for others, and his identification with all in need:

“When I was hungry you fed me,

Naked, you clothed me,

Ill, you came to my help,

In prison, you visited me.”

One of the oldest plaques from World War 1 commemorates Lt. A. Victor Smith, VC. At the outbreak of war, Victor was a respected Police Inspector but soon found himself commissioned and leading a company of men at the Gallipoli landings. On the discovery of a live grenade in his trench, Victor ordered his men to evacuate. On the realisation that they wouldn’t be able to escape, Victor threw himself on top of the grenade, saving his men. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15 v 13

One of the oldest standards belongs to the Old Contemptibles (those who were already regular soldiers at the outbreak of war in 1914) who gained such a reputation for fortitude and resilience that the Kaiser dubbed them ‘contemptible’.

On your left lies the Memorial Screen (pictured above) separating the Traditional Chapel from the Old Sanctuary. This was given in memory of those who died in the First World War; but mindful of those who died in the very last stages, the inscription runs from 1914 to December 1919 (the date when peace was ‘ratified’).