Commonwealth war graves

We visited war graves in the area around Ypres in 2001 - it was a group coach arranged by our family history society and I felt overwhelmed too, there is such a lot of them. We mostly went to ones where people had a special interest One of the people who came was almost 90 years old (her daughter came with her) and she visited the grave of her father - he had been the village postman and was nearly 50 years old and had volunteered. There was also a visit to the Arras memorial - where my great uncle was commemorated - he was killed in action and had no known grave.

I visited them many years ago and it was one of the most poignant experiences of my life. My grandfather was killed at the Battle of the Somme and his name is on the Thiepval Memorial. I wanted to go because I was the first member of my family able to do so. I felt I was doing it for my grandmother and father( long deceased) .I also went to Arras where his brother , my great uncle ,is commemorated .My poor grandmother: losing two sons within three months of each other and another son taken as a POW. It felt like a kind of pilgrimage .

Yes in France and in Greece. Beautifully maintained

My son and I did a Dambusters tour a few years ago which was excellent. We visited quite a few war graves sites, so many were so young, and killed in such a short space of time, it was overwhelming. The war graves that touched me most though were those of Guy Gibson and Jim Warwick in Steenbergen, maintained by locals.

We are in northern France at the moment & tonight at the restaurant there were 3 chaps with D Day tee shirts on. At the end of the meal I could not resist chatting to them. They were proud to tell me that they were ex servicemen here to represent the uk in the celebrations tomorrow. I felt very humble & even proud especially when they said that people in the street were stopping them to shake their hands in thanks.

Often go to Belgium as my chum has a house there, so many graves, all heartbreaking, so young so much loss.
Been to the French ones too, I'm always in bits reading them, also the book of graves that's kept there, some have little handwritten notes.. More than one, stating Father of the child born after his death. Heartbreaking so sad.

Kanchanaburi in Thailand, beautifully maintained and the nearby museum of letters and personal belongings heartbreaking.

I remember motor caravanning near the landing beaches and cemeteries and dragging a reluctant teenager around them a few decades ago.

She now brags to her children about how well travelled she was and she saw her great great uncle’s grave in France!

Don’t forget War graves are to be seen in UK churchyards too.
They are instantly recognisable as they are identical to the ones we have seen in France, Belgium etc.

In 1915 DH and I visited the war graves of the 3 members of my family, 2 great uncles and a cousin, who died during the Battle of Ypres. two have graves, one is mentioned on the Menin Gate.

In 1919 we went down to Marseilles to visit the war grave of my grandfather in a cemetery there. He survived the war, was returning home from Salonika but caught the Spanish Flu on the troop ship going from Salonika to Marseilles and died in a military hospital in Marseilles.

RosiesMaw

Don’t forget War graves are to be seen in UK churchyards too.
They are instantly recognisable as they are identical to the ones we have seen in France, Belgium etc.

I haven’t seen it as I’ve never been to the area but my mother’s aunt is buried in a Commonwealth War Grave. She nursed soldiers with Spanish Flu in a military hospital and subsequently succumbed to the disease herself.

Another war grave we have not seen and are unlikely to see is in North Africa. My dh’s uncle who was in the RAF was posted as MIA during the campaign in NA and the family never heard of him again. We only learnt in recent years that according to records the fate of he and his fellow crew members had eventually been uncovered. Sadly, MIL had died before we knew what had happened to her beloved only brother.

I visited Thiepval 10 yrs ago with my brother we found my paternal Grandfather on the memorial. He died on the Somme, my Nan was pregnant when he left so my Dad never met his father so very sad. It was a very emotional visit and i found it profoundly sad wandering round the grounds.

Wort a visit is the stunning Ring of Remembrance – L’Anneau de la Mémoire – inscribed with 580,000 names of all nationalities who died in WW1 and opened for the centenary near the French National Cemetery of Notre Dame de Lorette, along with an excellent museum. All the names are in alphabetic order and I found 2 relatives names here.

We've been to many, some to pay respects to family members.

One relative contracted skin cancer while serving abroad in WW2. He died in London and has a CWG in the City of London cemetery.

There are many in our local cemetery, some from recent conflicts, as the area has had an army garrison for years as well as military hospital.

They are all atmospheric and poignant.

My favourite is in Malta where we have a great uncle buried. Simple but beautiful. The taxi driver refused payment and even found flowers for us to lay.

I’ve been to Bethune cemetery, in Pas de Calais. It’s small in comparison to other places. My ex husband’s grandfather is buried there. He served from 1914 right through until August 1918. Didn’t quite make it to the end. I sobbed reading all the headstones. Young lads their lives wasted.

I visited my Uncle’s grave in Ghent. It was very well kept, as are all CWGC graves. They do a wonderful job. Many people voluntarily clean local war graves too.

When we were on holiday in Italy many years ago DH and I visited the cemetery at Monte Casino. It was beautiful but very sad.

Another Ypres visitor here. We visited Tyne Cot, where I knew my great uncle was buried (I have the govt letter to my great aunt telling her about giving them all proper graves and where his was. Dated 1929?), little graveyards with perhaps a dozen headstones and Langemark, the German cemetery. We visited a few war cemeteries every day we were there. I always got the book of names, addresses and next of kin out, and looked for a couple of soldiers from areas I knew, found their graves and left a stone.
Obviously any graveyard is a sad place, but the important thing was that those lads weren't forgotten.
I like the peace of a cemetery, and if I walk through one now, will always keep an eye open for a war grave. The CWGC do a great job keeping the graves looking loved.

Back in my camper van days we spent a week along the Normandy coast exploring all the war graves and memorials. I found it incredibly moving and sad at the loss of life.
If only we could stop all this from still happening.

I went to a little cemetery just outside Ypres where my great uncle is buried. His story was never told in the family until my mum began revealing snippets and we found him. She was so happy and proud and so were we when we finally laid flowers on his grave. Next to him was a young Irish soldier 'known only to God.' I put a flower on his too, and we spoke to the gardener who had been caring for those graves for years.
Then we went to the Menin Gate and it made me think what a ridiculously crazy place that was- like a massive memorial to a kind of collective madness.
I have no desire to go back- it is just too much to try and understand why so many died...

My uncle is buried in a Commonwealth war grave in a small village cemetery in Gascony which I visited a few years ago. He's the only one. He was washed up on the beach some months after his aircraft went down in the sea.

About ten years ago my husband and I visited Ypres staying for a week before heading to Brussels where I had worked for a year in 1974.

Based in Ypres we visited many of the grave sites and a house where Allies were hidden underneath in tunnels. We stood at the Menin Gate where a trumpeter plays the Last Post every evening at 8pm. A great uncle of my husband has his name inscribed on the memorial at the Menin Gate.
So humbling. Everywhere is beautifully maintained. Such respect.

summerfly
this is the same small cemetery where my great uncle is buried who died in April 1918 aged 18. We have visited a couple of times. It was the last German push to try to take back control of a tiny area of land. We have taken flowers a couple of times here. Very moving.

What I found so moving (and still do) was the pristine state of these cemeteries that I visited in France irrespective of size. From the tiniest to the largest, each grave always looked as though it had been attended/manicured only minutes before. Somewhat overwhelming every time I think of it but oh.... such beautiful simplicity.