Page 166 - Who Was Sapper Brown

Having failed to achieve Enosis (union with Greece) by peaceful means after his election in 1950,
Archbishop Makarios III secretly collaborated with a retired Greek Army colonel and experienced

guerrilla fighter, Cypriot-born George Grivas, to help achieve Enosis by military means. Grivas
founded the organisation EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kypriou Agonistou, or ‘National Organisation of

Cypriot Fighters’) for this purpose, and commenced a bombing campaign against the British Colonial
Administration on 1 April 1955. This led to the declaration of a State of Emergency in November 1955

by newly appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief Cyprus, Field Marshal Sir John Harding.
The Cyprus Emergency only ended in 1959 when Turkey and Greece forced Makarios to relinquish

the struggle for Enosis in favour of promoting independence, which was duly granted to Cyprus on 15
August 1960.

The names of all 371 British servicemen who lost their lives in Cyprus during the Cyprus Emergency
and are now buried at Wayne’s Keep are also recorded on the British Cyprus Memorial at the Old British

Cemetery Kyrenia as well as at the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum,
Alrewas.

The names of these young national servicemen are also recorded in a book, Mayhem in the Med, dedicated

to the memory of their spirit and sacrifice. This book was originally published on the 50th anniversary
of the start of this conflict.18 Its daily chronicling of events during the Cyprus Emergency makes it a very

useful reference source for visitors (and the Wayne’s Keep custodian!) to take with them when visiting
this cemetery.

‘In arduis fidelis’ Surgeon-Captain Gordon Wilson, Royal Horse Guards (The Blues), a Regimental Medical Officer
-
killed by EOKA on 26 September 1956 after treating a sick child,19 20 (photos preserved in St Columba’s church,
UN Protected Area, Nicosia)

18 Stiles, Richard (2009), Mayhem in the Med: A Chronicle of the Cyprus Emergency 1955 – 1960 (London: Savannah Publica-

tions)
19 ‘Obituary – Surgeon-Captain G C E Wilson.’ Household Brigade Magazine, (Winter 1956 – 1957), pp. 192 – 193. The
Regimental Medical Officers of the Household Cavalry were always traditionally re-badged as a member of the Household

Cavalry and wore their uniform, adopting the rank of Surgeon-Captain. They would revert to the Royal Army Medical Corps
on posting out of the unit.
20 The Times, Friday 28 September 1956, p. 10.

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