A historian has added 173 new names to the Roll of Honour, saying that his research ‘helps to perpetuate’ the memory of Islanders who died in the Second World War.
Historian Ian Ronayne said that his list of names was now ‘largely complete’ after he spent a year researching the project, which he says is not intended to replace the existing Roll of Honour, but instead provide an updated casualty list.
The Roll of Honour previously consisted of 463 names, and now has 636.
‘It gives people interested in family history a starting point,’ he said.
Through his research Mr Ronayne has been able to reveal more details about those on the 1982 Roll of Honour, such as the first names of soldiers who died, their regiments and where they were buried.
‘I was doing it because it could be useful for others,’ he said.
‘The good thing about it is it helps to perpetuate the memory of the men and women of Jersey who died in the war.’
In January this year, Mr Ronayne launched a public appeal for Islanders to come forward with information, hoping to discover the names of those he believed had, to date, gone unremembered.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission and wartime copies of the JEP were the two main sources Mr Ronayne used to reveal the additional names.
He added that he put all of these down on the updated Roll of Honour ‘as long as there is a connection’ to Jersey.
Mr Ronayne also said he was able to find a Jersey soldier who had ‘died in the most significant battles’ during the Second World War.
‘I found out about people who were evacuated, whole families who were wiped out. It is just very moving,’ he said.
Mr Ronayne now intends to produce bound copies of his updated list and offer them to the Jersey Archive and Société Jersiaise.
