A day to remember

IN a small part of Palma cemetery there is an area which used to be reserved for non-Catholics, for many years it was called the foreigner´s cemetery. It is a beautifully maintained place.

The gravestones tell a story of their own: here you will find the grave of a young seaman who was serving on the flagship of the Royal Navy the battlecruiser Hood who died on the island when the warship visited the port of Palma in the 1920s. The headstone says that it was made by his shipmates as a lasting tribute. Nearby there is the grave of a 17-year-old boy seaman who was serving on the cruiser Sussex, who also died on the island in 1937. His headstone was also made by his shipmates. Two young men who died in Majorca while serving in the Royal Navy more than half a century ago. My first feeling yesterday was one of sorrow; two young men who had died serving their country in a faraway land. But when you look at the beautifully maintained graves and cemetery you know that they will never be forgotten.