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Anger as SAS book of condolence is missing
An “irreplaceable and priceless” book filled with poignant and moving comments left by visitors to Hereford’s SAS Regiment church disappeared last autumn, it was revealed this week.
The Team Rector with responsibility for St Martin’s Church has appealed to whoever has the book to search their conscience and bring it back.
Loss of the book has led to confusion over the whereabouts of the official Book of Remembrance which records the names of members of the special forces killed since the Second World War.
But the Rev Peter Haddleton said that particular book had been taken away to be updated and would be returned to the church once more names had been added.
“The book of remembrance is the book that many people come from all over the country to see,” he said. “The Regiment takes responsibility for updating it. That is where it is at the moment and it will be back shortly.
“The book which has been missing since the autumn is a book of condolence, an informal book which just appeared one day some years ago and people wrote in it. That has disappeared and many people are very upset about it.”
The vicar said the church was a place of pilgrimage and had to be kept open for the many people who visited, although he did take the precaution of keeping it locked during school holidays.
Mike Colton, secretary of Allied Special Forces Association and ex-SAS soldier, said the book was irreplacable and priceless.
“This is an extremely important book to all the visiting families who put their comments in,” he said. “It needs to be traced and returned to the church so that grieving relatives and friends and people who served with the soldiers can pay tribute.
“This book has significant meaning, not only for myself, but also for relatives and friends of those laid to rest.
“I served with some of those people who are in the graveyard. The worst thing would be if this book turned up for sale on ebay.”
Ex-SAS member Pete Scholey served with the regiment for 20 years. “If someone has taken this book it is extremely bad taste,” he said.
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