During World War II, Yorkshire served not only as a place for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and officers but also as one of the largest centers for the basing of the British Air Force. There were about ten major and minor Royal Air Force air bases located here. The Harrogate Cemetery (Stonefall) is the final resting place of 988 pilots, three-quarters of whom were Canadian citizens. Many of them died from their wounds in the Harrogate military hospital.

After the opening of the Second Front, a large number of released Allied soldiers from German captivity were directed to the Yorkshire area. Many of them required urgent medical assistance and rehabilitation, but unfortunately, not all could be saved. In 1945, soldiers of the Soviet Army were buried at Harrogate Cemetery: Pyotr Kapalil, Ivan Ustinov, and S. Kolyshev, whose full name has not yet been established.