Well, this genuinely surprised me Commonwealth graves
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Well, this genuinely surprised me Commonwealth graves
It appears ethnic war dead have not been treated equally, which if it is the case is dreadful. They died for this Country and deserve to be honoured equally.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56840131
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56840131
Buried in the article;
Mr Wallace also announced a public consultation over plans to waive the visa fee for service personnel from the Commonwealth and Nepal who choose to settle in the UK in order to honour their contribution.
I've visited a few IWGC sites over the years all over the world and I honestly believe the British have done it better than anyone else. I've seen Sikh and Maori gravestones and ones where Moslems have been carefully orientated to face towards Mecca. I think they're really looking at some of the generic " 100 soldiers of the 1st East African lie here" type. But especially on the WW1 memorials there are a lot of people of all colours and creeds just remembered as names on an enormous list of the dead.
Everyone who died, whatever side they died on, deserves remembrance
Everyone who died, whatever side they died on, deserves remembrance
I've visited a few IWGC sites over the years all over the world and I honestly believe the British have done it better than anyone else. I've seen Sikh and Maori gravestones and ones where Moslems have been carefully orientated to face towards Mecca. I think they're really looking at some of the generic " 100 soldiers of the 1st East African lie here" type. But especially on the WW1 memorials there are a lot of people of all colours and creeds just remembered as names on an enormous list of the dead.
Everyone who died, whatever side they died on, deserves remembrance
Everyone who died, whatever side they died on, deserves remembrance
Gentleman Aviator
And I was at a ceremony at the National Arboretum a few years back where memorials were unveiled to BAME VC holders (of which there are quite a few). Johnson Beharry was there and I was honoured to shake his hand.
Shame "Call me Dave" who was PM at the time, kept referring to him as "Sgt Johnson".......
Shame "Call me Dave" who was PM at the time, kept referring to him as "Sgt Johnson".......
The remit of the IWGC Commission – Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is to ensure that all those service personnel who died in service and between the specified dates, are commemorated with either a marked grave or an entry on a memorial.
There are many places where graves have been ‘gathered in’ over the years and in some cemeteries the actual grave has been lost. The CWGC has a number of different ‘markers’ which cater for anomalies and of course there are the huge memorials, such as the Menin Gate, for those whose remains were never found or could not be individually identified.
The present staff at the CWGC have nothing to apologise for and having identified and quantified the problem, it will be fixed.
The rules at the Armed Forces Memorial at Alrewas are somewhat different, in that the deceased must have died on duty. This leads to some confusion and I have got one man added to the memorial at Alrewas and an appeal for a female officer is being reviewed to see if she was on duty.
Old Duffer
There are many places where graves have been ‘gathered in’ over the years and in some cemeteries the actual grave has been lost. The CWGC has a number of different ‘markers’ which cater for anomalies and of course there are the huge memorials, such as the Menin Gate, for those whose remains were never found or could not be individually identified.
The present staff at the CWGC have nothing to apologise for and having identified and quantified the problem, it will be fixed.
The rules at the Armed Forces Memorial at Alrewas are somewhat different, in that the deceased must have died on duty. This leads to some confusion and I have got one man added to the memorial at Alrewas and an appeal for a female officer is being reviewed to see if she was on duty.
Old Duffer
The cases identified tend to be in Africa and the Middle East I believe. The Menin Gate has the names of eg Indian soldiers who died thereabouts by name - and even a few "Camp Followers" are named. The Committee responsible for the war graves etc away from the Western Front appear to have had different standards. What they clumsily tried to do was to take cognizance of local conditions - some cultures do not bury their dead or use individual headstones etc. What is unforgiveable is the lack of individual names on a memorial of some fashion.
