A new series of stamps highlighting Bermuda’s involvement in the First World War is set to be released this week by the Bermuda Post Office.

The series, designed by Keno Simmons, celebrates the service of the 500 young Bermudians who left the island to fight, and the 80 who lost their lives.

Contingencies from both of the segregated militias of the day — the white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the black Bermuda Militia Artillery — took part in combat in Europe, working alongside the Lincolnshire Regiment and the Royal Garrison Artillery respectively.

The first of the stamp series, valued at 50¢, shows the first contingent of the BVRC on the Hamilton Docks, awaiting their deployment in May 1915, while the $1 stamp depicts the Bermuda contingency of the Royal Garrison Artillery, along with a map showing the locations where they were engaged.

The $1.15 stamp shows a letter sent from the island to W.F. Anderson, who was attached with the Lincolnshire Regiment, and returned with the notation “Killed in Action 1/4/16”, along with the dog tags of Harold Trimingham.

The series continues with a $1.20 stamp, which focuses on a postcard sent back to Bermuda by BVRC’s Cyril Young and a photograph of Cyril Chesterfield Easton of the BMA, and a $1.35 stamp which highlights a pre-war recruitment poster for the BMA and a Royal Garrison Artillery cap badge.

The final stamp, valued at $1.55 in the series portrays 19-year-old Cecil Montgomery-Moore, who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross after shooting down three German planes. The stamp series is set to be released on Thursday.

Stamp pictures, page 6