Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

File:CWGC Logo.png The logo of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Abbreviation	CWGC
Formation	21 May 1917
Legal status	Commission
Purpose	Pay tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars.
Headquarters	Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Region served	Worldwide (150 countries)
President	Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
Budget	₤43,027,498 (2008)
Website	cwgc.org

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The Commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The Commission was founded by Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The Imperial War Graves Commission amended its name to its present name in 1960.

The Commission, as part of its mandate, is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally. To this effect, the war dead are commemorated by name on either a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. War dead are commemorated in a uniform and equal fashion, irrespective of military or civil rank, race or creed.

The Commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.69 million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 150 countries. Since its inception, the Commission has constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries and numerous memorials. The Commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over 23,000 separate burial sites and the maintenance of more than 200 memorials worldwide. In addition to commemorating Commonwealth military service members, the Commission maintains, under arrangement with applicable governments, over 40,000 non-Commonwealth war graves and over 25,000 non-war military and civilian graves. The Commission operates through the continued financial support of the member states: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. The current President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.

History

First World War

Canadian war graves near Ypres, Belgium

On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Fabian Ware, a director of the Rio Tinto Company, found that at 45 he was too old to join the British Army. He used the influence of Rio Tinto chairman, Viscount Milner, to become the commander of a mobile unit of the British Red Cross. He arrived in France in September 1914 and whilst there was struck by the lack of any official mechanism for marking the graves of those who had been killed and felt compelled to create the organisation within the Red Cross for this purpose. In 1915, his work was given official recognition by the Imperial War Office and the unit was transferred to the British Army as the Graves Registration Commission. By October 1915, the new Graves Registration Commission had over 31,000 graves registered and 50,000 by May 1916.

As reports of the grave registration work became public, the commission began to receive letters of enquiry and requests for photographs of graves from relatives of deceased soldiers. In March 1915, the commission, with the support of the Red Cross, began to dispatch photographic prints and useful locational information in answer to the requests. The Graves Registration Commission became the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries in the spring of 1916 in recognition of the fact that the scope of work began to extend beyond simple grave registration and began to include responding to enquiries from relatives of those killed. The directorate's work was also extended beyond the Western Front and into other theatres of war, with units deployed in Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Formal establishment

Carving of headstones by hand would take a week

As the war continued, Ware and others became concerned about the fate of the graves in the post-war period. Upon the suggestion by the British Army, the National Committee for the Care of Soldiers Graves was appointed by the British government in January 1916, with Edward, Prince of Wales agreeing to serve as president. The National Committee for the Care of Soldiers’ Graves was created with the intention of taking over the work of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries after the war. The government felt that it was more appropriate to entrust the work to a specially appointed body rather than to any existing government department. By early 1917 a number of members of the committee believed a formal imperial organisation would be needed to care for the graves. With the help of Edward, Prince of Wales, Ware submitted a memorandum to the Imperial War Conference in 1917 suggesting that an imperial organisation be constituted under Royal Charter. The suggestion was accepted and on 21 May 1917 the Imperial War Graves Commission was established by Royal Charter, with Edward, Prince of Wales serving as president, Secretary of State for War Lord Derby as chairman and Ware as vice-chairman.

The Commission's undertakings began in earnest at the end of the First World War. Once land for cemeteries and memorials had been guaranteed, the enormous task of recording the details of the dead could begin. By 1918, some 587,000 graves had been identified and a further 559,000 casualties were registered as having no known grave. A committee under Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, presented a report in November 1918 on how the cemeteries should be developed. Two key elements of this report were that bodies should not be repatriated and that uniform memorials should be used to avoid class distinctions. Beyond the logistical nightmare of returning home so many corpses, it was felt that repatriation would conflict with the feeling of brotherhood that had developed between all serving ranks. Both of these issues generated considerable public discussion, which eventually led to a heated debate in Parliament on 4 May 1920. The matter was eventually settled with Kenyon's proposal being accepted.

First cemeteries

Three of the most eminent architects of their day, Sir Herbert Baker, Sir Reginald Blomfield, and Sir Edwin Lutyens were commissioned to design the cemeteries and memorials. Following the principals outline in the Frederic Kenyon report, the Commission built three experimental cemeteries at Le Treport, Forceville and Louvencourt. Of these, the one located at Forceville was agreed to be the most successful. Having consulted with garden designer Gertrude Jekyl, the architects created a walled cemetery with uniform headstones in a garden setting, augmented by Blomfield’s Cross of Sacrifice and Lutyens’ Stone of Remembrance. After some adjustments, Forceville became the template for the Commission’s building program. At the end of 1919, the Commission had spent £7,500, and this figure rose to £250,000 in 1920 as construction of cemeteries and memorials increased. 4,000 headstones a week were being sent to France in 1923. In 1927, when the majority of construction had been completed, over 500 cemeteries had been built, with 400,000 headstones and 1,000 Crosses of Sacrifice. In many cases small cemeteries were closed and the graves concentrated in larger ones. The cemetery building and grave concentration programme was completed in 1938, just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Second World War

The first Second World War cemetery, Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery

From the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Commission had a graves registration unit. With the increased number of civilian casualties compared with the First World War, Winston Churchill agreed to Ware's proposal that the Commission also maintain a record of Commonwealth civilian war deaths. This book, containing the names of nearly 67,000 men, women and children, has been kept in Westminster Abbey since 1956. When the war began turning toward the Allies favour, the Commission was able to begin restoring its 1914-1918 cemeteries and memorials to their pre-war standard. So too, it began the task of commemorating the 600,000 Commonwealth casualties from the Second World War. In 1949, the commission completed Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, the first of 559 new cemeteries and 36 new memorials. Eventually, over 350,000 new headstones were erected. The wider scale of the Second World War, coupled with manpower shortages and unrest in some countries, meant that the construction programme was not completed until the 1960s.

Burial sites and memorials

See also: List of total Commonwealth War Graves Commission burials by country

The Commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.69 million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 150 countries and approximately 67,000 civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. Commonwealth military service members are commemorated by name on either a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. As a result, the Commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over 23,000 separate burial sites and maintenance of more than 200 memorials worldwide. The vast majority of burial sites are pre-existing communal cemeteries located in the United Kingdom, however the Commission has itself constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries worldwide. The Commission has also constructed or commissioned memorials to commemorate the dead who have no known grave, the largest of these is the Thiepval Memorial.

The Commission only commemorates those who have died during the designated war years, while in Commonwealth military service or of causes attributable to service. The applicable periods of consideration are 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921 for the First World War and 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947 for Second World War. Civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War are commemorated differently that those that died as a result of military service. They are commemorated by name through the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour located in St George’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey. In addition to its mandated duties, the Commission maintains, under arrangement with applicable governments, over 40,000 non-Commonwealth war graves and over 25,000 non-war military and civilian graves.

Cemetery design

Architecture

The Cross of Sacrifice.

Structural design has always played an important part in the Commission’s cemeteries. A typical cemetery is surrounded by a masonry wall with an entrance through wrought iron gates. In larger sites a stainless steel notice gives details of the respective military campaign. In all but the smallest cemeteries, a bronze register box is present containing an inventory of the burials and a plan of the plots and rows. Cemeteries of more than 40 graves have a Cross of Sacrifice designed by architect Reginald Blomfield. A simple cross embedded with a bronze sword and mounted on an octagonal base to represent the faith of the majority of commemorations. Those with more than 1000 burials have a Stone of Remembrance, designed by Edwin Lutyens, to commemorate those of all faiths and none respectively. The geometry of the structure was based on studies of the Parthenon and steers purposefully clear of shapes associated with any particular religion.

The Stone of Remembrance, a feature of larger cemeteries

Individual graves are arranged, where possible, in straight rows and marked by uniform headstones, the vast majority of which are made of Portland stone. Unlike French, German, or American graves, the headstones are rectangles with rounded tops. Most headstones are inscribed with a cross, except for those deceased known to be atheist or non-Christian. Differentiated only by their inscriptions: the national emblem or regimental badge, rank, name, unit, date of death and age of each casualty is inscribed above an appropriate religious symbol and a more personal dedication chosen by relatives. Many gravestones are for unidentified casualties; they consequently bear only what could be discovered from the body.

In places prone to extreme weather or earthquakes, such as Thailand and Turkey, stone-faced pedestal markers are used instead of the normal headstones and the freestanding Cross of Sacrifice is replaced with one built into a wall. These measures are intended to prevent masonary being damaged during earthquakes or sinking into sodden ground. In Struma Military Cemetery, in Greece, to avoid risk of earthquake damage, small headstones are laid flat on the ground. The smaller size of the markers mean that they lack unit insignia.

Horticulture

Roses around headstones in Menin Road South Military Cemetery, Belgium

Commission cemeteries are distinctive in treating floriculture as an integral part of the cemetery design. Originally, the horticultural concept was to create an environment where visitors could experience a sense of peace in a setting, in contrast to traditionally bleak graveyards. Recommendations given by the Assistant Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew enabled the Commission to develop cemetery layouts and architectural structures that took into account the placement of suitable plant life. Combining structural and horticultural elements was not unfamiliar to the Commission’s architects. Sir Edwin Lutyens furthered his long-standing working relationship with horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll, whose devotion to traditional cottage garden plants and roses greatly influenced the appearance of the cemeteries. Where possible, indigenous plants were utilised to enhance sentimental associations with the gardens of home.

Variety in texture, height and timing of floral display were equally important horticultural considerations. The beds around each headstone is planted with a mixture of floribunda roses and herbaceous perennials. Low-growing plants are chosen for areas immediately in front of headstones, ensuring that inscriptions are not obscured and preventing soil from splashing back during rain. In cemeteries where there are pedestal grave markers, dwarf varieties of plants are used instead.

The absence of any form of paving between the headstone rows contributes to the simplicity of the cemetery designs. Lawn paths add to the garden ambiance, and are irrigated during the dry season in countries where there is insufficient rain. Where irrigation is inappropriate or impractical, dry landscaping is an ecological alternative favoured by the Commission’s horticulturists, as is the case in Iraq. Drier areas require a different approach not only for lawns, but also to plants and styles of planting. Similarly, there are separate horticultural considerations in tropical climates. When many cemeteries are concentrated within a limited area, like along the Western Front or Gallipoli peninsula, mobile teams of gardeners operate from a local base. Elsewhere, larger cemeteries have their own dedicated staff while small cemeteries are usually tended by a single gardener working part time.

Financing

The CWGC's work is funded predominantly by grants from the governments of the six member states. In the fiscal year 2007/08, these grants amounted to £43m. The contribution from each country is proportionate to the number of graves maintained, as follows:

Country	Value of grants (£ m)	% of total
United Kingdom	33.7	78.4
Canada	4.3	10.1
Australia	2.6	6.1
New Zealand	0.9	2.1
South Africa	0.9	2.1
India	0.5	1.2
Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Vandalism

CWGC cemeteries are generally respected as humanitarian, non-political sites, and instances of vandalism and desecration appear to be rare; when they do occur they tend to make news in Commonwealth countries.

Accusations of vandalism of Imperial war graves were levelled at Nazi Germany after their victory in the Battle of France. On 2 June 1940, Adolf Hitler visited the Vimy Memorial to show that it had not been vandalised or destroyed by German troops.

Vandals defaced the central memorial of the Etaples Military Cemetery in northern France with anti-British and anti-American graffiti on 20 March 2003 immediately after the beginning of the Iraq War. The many war graves that the Commission looked after in Iraq were left to fall into disrepair after Saddam Hussein banned the Commission from visiting the graveyards after the first Gulf War. On 9 May 2004 thirty-three headstones were demolished in the Gaza cemetery, which contains 3,691 graves, allegedly in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

In November 2008, nineteen headstones at the Wagga Wagga War Cemetery were desecrated by vandals. On 1 April 2009 the nineteen headstones were restored at a cost of AU$7500 with AU$10,000 reward on offer for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the attack.

In late March 2009, vandals desecrated eight headstones at the Albury War Cemetery, in Albury, New South Wales, which was found by a member of the Office of Australian War Graves. Replacement headstones will cost AU$2000 each and take up to eight weeks to replace with ANZAC Day five weeks before the expected replacements to arrive.

Current Projects

A project is underway to photograph the graves of and memorials to all service personnel from 1914 to the present day and make the images available to the public. The work is being carried out by the The War Graves Photographic Project[1] in conjunction with the CWGC. The project has thus far recorded 1,000,000 photographs for posterity.

Since an initial archaeological investigation in 2008, the Commission has been working with the British and Australian authorities to plan the recovery of between 250 and 400 casualties from previously unidentified mass graves resulting from the Battle of Fromelles. Recovery operations began in May 2009, and it is expected that by July 2010 all remains will have been reburied in individual graves in a new CWGC cemetery close by (the first since the end of the Second World War).

See also

• American Battle Monuments Commission
• German War Graves Commission
• Mortuary Affairs

References

• Gibson, T. A. Edwin; Ward, G. Kingsley (1989). Courage Remembered: The Story Behind the Construction and Maintenance of the Commonwealth's Military Cemeteries and Memorials of the Wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45. London: Stationery Office Books. ISBN 0117726087.

• Peaslee, Amos Jenkins (1974). International Governmental Organizations. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Martinus Nijhoff. ISBN 9024716012.

• Summers, Julie (2007). Remembered: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. London: Merrell. ISBN 1858943744.

External links

• CWGC official website
• Maple Leaf Legacy Project
• Australian War Grave Photographic Archive
• South Africa War Graves Project
• United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials
• New Zealand Memorials Register, Ministry of Culture & Heritage