Robert Leslie Bunton –

Royal Signals in Cyprus

the mystery is solved

By Margaret Sheard….

We recently had a request from David and Betty Miles who were trying to locate the final resting place of David’s school friend Robert Leslie Bunton (Bobby) who was killed in Cyprus on 5^th October 1958 while doing his national service.

It was somewhat of a mystery as Bobby’s name is included on the memorial in the Old British Cemetery in Kyrenia but they could find no trace of him at Wayne’s Keep. Brian Thomas, the Chairman of Royal British Legion Kyrenia Branch had carried out a search of the Wayne’s Keep register and he wasn’t listed. Betty sent an appeal to cyprusscene.com to see if anyone could throw any light on where Bobby could be buried. Betty and David had arranged to visit North Cyprus in September and wanted to pay their respects at the grave of David’s school friend.

I took up the challenge and followed 2 routes where I had contacts and while both carried out checks, for which I was very grateful, they were sure that Bobby was not buried in Cyprus and one contact suggested he could have possibly been repatriated. This was an option I had not even thought about and was another avenue to pursue. I contacted Betty to establish the home town of Bobby and when I received the information I checked the cemetery register and found one Robert Leslie Bunton – buried at Rippleside Cemetery, Dagenham on 14^th October 1958 and I hoped this was Bobby. Betty arranged for a relative to go to the cemetery to check the grave and take a photograph for me and it was indeed the grave of Bobby who was accidentally killed in Cyprus on 5^th October 1958.

So the mystery is solved and Bobby’s final resting place has been found. I thank the UN contacts who methodically checked records for me and for the advice about repatriation without which I would probably have thought I couldn’t do any further research.

A sad but at the same time very rewarding ending to a request for assistance. This is the sort of ending that makes the time we spend on cyprusscene.com so worthwhile.