Journalists to be honored with memorial for WWII resistance

The Chartered Institute of Journalists is campaigning to install a permanent memorial in London to honor journalists who resisted Nazi occupation in the Channel Islands during World War II. The proposed plaque will be placed at St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street.

The memorial aims to recognize individuals such as Joseph Gillingham and Joseph Tierney, who were arrested and died in prison for sharing news from banned radios, as well as Frank Falla, who documented the islanders' efforts to bypass censorship in his book, ‘The Silent War’.

During the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, residents faced strict laws, including the confiscation of radios and mandatory ID cards. Historian Timothy Crook noted that many individuals who were not professional journalists became courageous news disseminators by verbally sharing BBC reports or using clandestine news sheets to keep information flowing despite the occupation.