I was stationed at RAF China Bay in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1957 and didn't know until a visit in 2002 that a war graves cemetary existed in Trincomalee, just across the bay from China Bay where I was stationed - read on.
One of the far-flung Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries is the Trincomalee Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in north eastern Sri Lanka which is one of six commonwealth war cemeteries in Sri Lanka.
The Trincomalee cemetery was originally the Combined Services Cemetery, but was taken over by the Admiralty from the military in April 1948 for use as a permanent naval cemetery. On the withdrawal of UK Forces from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1957 it became the property of the Sri Lanka Government who granted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission security of tenure in perpetuity. Save for a few post-war and non-war graves it is purely a war cemetery. The non-war graves are those of men of the Merchant Navy whose death was not due to war service and of civilians, of whom some were employees of the Admiralty; while the post-war graves were dependents of servicemen, civilian employees of the Admiralty and dependents of such employees. The cemetery contains 360 named graves and 4 unknown.
As expected most graves contain the remains of naval servicemen who died when the Japanese bombed the Royal Naval Eastern Fleet base at Trincomalee in April 1942. (Photo taken in May 2002 shows the caretaker responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery holding the cemetery visitors book and very proud to show visitors the entry signed by Princess Ann that she made on a visit to Trinco, date unknown).
