Today we went to the Brookwood Military Cemetery near Woking to visit the memorials to all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all our freedom.  We wanted to visit the memorials of some of the most bravest men and women who had waged an underground war against the Germans in France- William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams,Robert Benoist  and Violette Szarbo who all joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) working as undercover agents in occupied France in order to as Winston Churchill put it "to set Europe ablaze".

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 William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams grew up in France to an English father and a French mother. Always interested in automobiles he began working as a chauffeur for Sir William Orpen, then he became the first man to win the very first Monaco Grand Prix where he entered his Bugatti resprayed in the now familiar color of British racing green winning many Grand Prix across Europe. He became firm friends with Robert Benoist but when the second world war broke out he returned to England to join the army where he was selected to join SOE and return undercover to France to set up resistance cells to sabotage the German war effort. He persuaded Robert Benoist to join him staging many acts of defiance against the occupying forces until both sadly were captured and executed in concentration camps (although rumors  indicate that Williams did survive this however this has never been proved). Amazing Amazing people! If you are ever in Monaco you must visit the Statue of him at Saint Devote.

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Brookwood is a very sobering place to visit to say the least. We would recommend it to all!