Unsung Commonwealth forestry heroes of WW2 honoured with new Glasgow memorial in Pollok Park

The Commonwealth Foresters’ Memorial has been delicately landscaped into Pollok Park to commemorate the sacrifice of men and women who travelled thousands of miles to keep Scotland’s vital timber industry going during WW2.

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Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, holds a special place at the memorial because around 900 men rallied to the UK’s call of need and sailed 5000 miles in a journey across the North Atlantic to volunteer for the war effort.

Sam Martinez was one of the heroic men who undertook the perilous trip from his home in Punta Gorda to Port Glasgow in 1942 at the age of 32.

Mr Martinez went on to live in Edinburgh until he passed away at the age of 106 in 2016.

His daughter, Carol Martinez, and grandson, Yutsil Hoyo Diaz Martinez, attended the ceremony and helped to plant the last tree.

Yutsil, who lived with his grandfather for the last five years of his life, said: “I think my grandfather would have been really chuffed with this event and he would have been up for a speech, with the way that his character was.

“It’s very good to be able to cement history in Scotland of these events that happened."

He added: “He always said that when he was coming over to Scotland, he was coming to help his mother nation, his mother country.”

Yutsil told the Glasgow Times that his grandfather spent 14 days and nights on a ship, zig-zagging through the Atlantic trying to avoid German U-Boats before arriving in Port Glasgow and taking a bus up to Ullapool.

Mr Martinez, used to the warm Caribbean weather of his homeland, was overcome by the cold and rainy climate of his new country.

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Many of the locals in Scotland at the time were also nervous of the new arrivals and had not seen people of colour before.

Despite this, Mr Martinez fell in love with the country and became a local celebrity in his community and well known Hibs supporter.

Yutsil said: “He always felt like the people were warm and kind to him in Scotland.

“He never really spoke about the racism, the thing that was underlying that era, but he did love Scotland and the people.”

The memorial features 100 trees planted in widening circles to mimic the rings on a tree and suggests the passage of time.

Three species of trees have been chosen to honour the Commonwealth.

Hugh McNish, advisor from Scottish Forestry, said: “We’ve planted a sugar maple which is a recognition towards Canada.

“We’ve planted the liquidambar, which does grow in Belize, so that’s a recognition of Belize.

“And a common hornbeam is the third species we planted with a recognition of the UK and wider.”

Environment minister Mairi McAllan helped the Martinez family to plant the final tree.

She said: “It’s about coming together to mark the contribution that 6000 men made when they answered the call for wartime support and came to Scotland to work in our forests and live in our communities.

“We’re recognizing that with this beautiful living, breathing memorial which marks their contribution. It’s a national thank you.”

Jordan Craig, the first secretary to the Belize High Commission in London, said: “The memorial is very special because it pays tribute to the incredible work and the legacy of men who left their homes and embarked on a journey that they didn’t really know where it would take them.

“They did some very hard, laborious work, and to see their legacy being honoured by the Government of Scotland, the city of Glasgow, decades later, is truly special and meaningful.

“It strengthens and reinforces the connections between Scotland and countries like my own, Belize, where the connections are deep and are not always highlighted and brought to the fore.

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“So when someone as special as Sam Martinez [is recognised], just by his own character, strong character, work ethic, charismatic personality, as an ambassador of Belize in his own right, just by the virtue of the person that he was, his family has a lot to be proud of, and the people of Belize have a lot to be proud of.

“And I only want this to be the beginning of a reconnection between Scotland and Belize, and the other countries of the Commonwealth. It’s truly a special memorial.”

Scott Williamson, the New Zealand honorary consul for Scotland, said: “The importance of the various Commonwealth foresters who came to Britain during the Second World War can’t be underestimated.”

The memorial was designed by landscape architect Nick Bowen from Raeburn Farquhar Bowen.

The ground works were managed by the Green Action Trust and carried out by Calley Construction, on behalf of Glasgow City Council.