U.S. Coast Guard and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum conduct an annual British Cemetery Memorial Service in May. The public is welcome to attend.
The graveside ceremony typically includes a 21-gun salute to commemorate the loss of British sailors from the H.M.S. Bedfordshire. The crewmen's bodies were recovered from the waters surrounding Ocracoke Island after the ship was torpedoed by German U-Boats in 1942.
The Bedfordshire was working with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy to protect American shipping lanes, where U-boats had been sinking oil tankers important to the war effort.
Representatives from the Coast Guard, the British Royal Navy and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum participate in the event. Canadian navy representatives also attend because there were two Canadian seamen lost on the Bedfordshire. Since the nationality of the two unidentified sailors may have been Canadian, all are honoured together.
