Dr Megan Wang (née Kelleher)

One of the many ways that we can learn about history is through the spoken word, and during the pandemic the world exploded with podcasts. I have been intentionally very particular with what content I consumed, as I wanted to maximise my time listening to podcasts I genuinely enjoyed and enable myself to learn about lots of new things. I am also very aware that in some ways my own interest in the commemoration and care of war dead can be seen as a bit niche, so whenever I find a podcast relating to the topic I know I have to listen to it! While the podcast I’m discussing has been out for a little while, I just wanted to draw wider attention to it as I think it’s a fascinating piece of work that’s well worth a listen! The podcast I wanted to highlight today is War Graves Gardeners, and it’s hosted by Caitlin DeAngelis.

The podcast is an offshoot of DeAngelis’ fascinating book, published earlier this year, entitled The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airmen in World War II and it shares some of the stories of gardeners working for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) in France and Belgium during the interwar period, and how the occupation of Europe and the Second World War impacted their lives. DeAngelis’ book is well worth a read in and of itself, and the podcast supplements the research undertaken by her perfectly. As with any book, there is always a ton of research that cannot be fitted into the work so it is wonderful that she took the time to create this podcast.

There are only three episodes currently, but each episode explores the fates of a specific IWGC gardener in detail and I’m hoping she publishes more soon! Each episode gives a wonderful insight into an incredibly underrepresented topic. She includes information about how the IWGC handled the invasion of France and Belgium by the Nazis and worked with the Anglo-Belgian and Anglo-French communities created as a result of some veterans staying behind after the First World War to care for the British Empire’s war dead.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the episode that I found the most interesting was the incredibly poignant story of Charles Henry Holton. It was a privilege to visit his grave, within the confines of a war graves plot and with a Commission-style headstone, at Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków, Poland and to later learn his story from DeAngelis. Many people visit the cemetery to pay their respects at the grave of Pope John Paul II’s parents, so for him to have met such a tragic end and be buried in such a poignant location adds to his story.

So, go and check out this podcast – you won’t regret it!