BRITISH WAR DEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 92, 20 April 1938, Page 4

BRITISH WAR DEAD

CARE OF THE GRAVES

WORK OF THE COMMISSION

The eighteenth annual repfort of the Imperial War Graves Commission for the year ended March 31, 1937, shows that generally the war cemeteries have been satisfactorily maintained; that the general appearance of those in France and Belgium has been kept at its customary high . standard,. says "The Times." , .' Major-General Sir, Fabian Ware, in an introduction, states that'since the systematic work of clearing the battlefields of graves was brought to an end more than 40,000 bodies, have been found. All these bodies have been-re-buried in individual graves. This has meant the provision of 40,000 additional headstones and' the construction and permanent maintenance of the cemeteries in which they are situated.1 The proportion of identifications, is approximately 10 per cent. '' :;' ■.',;' . •

During the year meetings 'were held of several of the mixed • committees through which the commission is able^ to discuss questions affecting war graves in' the foreign countries concerned. The commission has been greatly encouraged by the increasing interest' taken, both in ■ the British Commonwealth and in. the foreign countries concerned; in >this international development of its work.

The, report; states, that the discovery, of British' bodies by local inhabitants' on the former : battlefields continues, and during'.'jthe year the total found was slightly' less than, in 1935-36. In France 768 bodies were found, comi pared with 821 in 1935-36, and in Belgium the number recovered was 94, compared with 63 in the-previous year. Of the;,76B bodies, found ■in France, 676 were found, on the Somme battlefields. ''The discovery was' in every case reported to the commission, which arranged for reburial in a British cemetery. .'.'■.-• RELATIVES NOTIFIED. Notification is sent to the relatives, if they ;can toe traced, whenever a body is identified, and it was found possible during-the year to establish identificar tion in> 189 cases, in the same period the French official search parties found and reburied, in one department—the Pas-de-Calais—-alone, the bodies of 231 French arid 483 German, soldiers. These figures compare with the totals of 795 and 810\respectively in 1935-36. The total "British 'personnel employed by the commission in France and Belgium at March 31, 1937, numbered 595, compared with 598 on the corresponding date in 1936. Of this number 550 were employed in the horticultural branch; the administrative, finance, works, and transport branches account for' the remainder. With regard to the education of the children of the staff abroad, the. Eton Memorial School iat Ypfes continues to provide an admirable education for those resident in ornear-that down. To assist members of the staff in France,-in other parts of Belgium, and in Germany, who wish their children -to be educated, ire the United ; Kingdom,. the commission has continued to give maintenance grants. , ■ ■..■.-■■ ":..:■<:.■ . ''■':' ■■■ ; ■. The commission has considered the difficulties encountered by its staff in France and Belgium; owing: to variations in the rates of exchange arid to changes in the cost, of living, and a number,.of concessions were made. Step's were taken 'with a /view to setting up permanent machinery; for negotiation. During the';<year the commission's inspectors visited some 6500 burial places and inspected over 68,500 graves in the United Kingdom.: Reno-; vation work was carried out in certain cemeteries. None of the repairs was of a serious nature. The cash payments of the commission during the year amounted to £239,802 16s Bd.