EMPIRE GRAVES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19867, 15 June 1927, Page 2

EMPIRE GRAVES

WORK IN THE CEMETERIES •‘HIS NAME LIVETH.” The seventh annual report of the Imperial War Graves Commission is a moving document. In July, 1925, it was announced that an endowment fund of £5,000,000 was being created by the British and Dominion Governments for the maintenance of war cemeteries To this fund the Commonwealth Parliament has already voted its first contribution, which has been paid to the commission and vested in three trustees — General the Hon. Sir Herbert Lawrence, Mr. E. R. Peacock and MajorGeneral Sir Fabian Ware. In Britain and France each grave is marked by a headstone 2ft Sin high, and Ift 3in broad, which is inscribed with a carving of the badge which the dead soldier woro on his cap. The name, age, and rank are added, together with a cross or other appropriate religious emblem, such as tho six-pointed Star of David for a soldier of the Jewish faith. Below this is a text or personal tribute chosen by relatives. The manufacture of these headstones is proceeding in Britain at the rate of 2,000 a week. In addition, there are general memorials, such as the Great Cross of Sacrifice, with its bronze sword. Sir Edwin Lutyen’s Stone of Remembrance is also found in all the larger cemeteries, a monolith of 10 tons, inscribed with the words “Their name liveth for evermore.” Some of the cemeteries contain 10,00 or 12,000 headstones. Any suggestion of desolation is obviated by foliage and flowers, and such a cemetery as that on Passchendalo Ridge, where 11,000 unknown soldiers lie, is also dignified by h memorial designed by Mr. Herbert Baker, which is at once a shelter for mourners and a recordhouse. The central blockhouse forms the base of the Cross of Sacrifice, and on tho rising ground behind it the shelter and record-house are joined by a curved wall, on which are inscribed the names of 35,000 heroo.4 who have no known grave. The Passchendale ceme-1 tcry is nearing completion, as is that' among the sand duns at Etaples, where lies 11,000 British and Dominion sol-

diers. It stands among the fir trees overlooking the English Channel, with the Cross of Sacrifice and the Stone of Remembrance, and at each end of the terrace pylons in tne form of shelters, which carry cenotaphs adorned with tho flags of the various services. Position at Gallipoli. The .report also describes the condition of the memorials on the Gallipoli Peninsula. There are 31 cemeteries in all—six in the Helles area, and 25 stretching in a chain from Suvia Bay to Anzac Beach; some in the sides of deep gullies, others on the ridge from which the Turks were never dislodged. On the pylon in Lone Pins cemetery are the names of 3,840 Australians and 1,007 New Zealanders wdc have no known graves, and of 1.250 men of the Dominions who died at sea. Upright headstones were not judged suitable for Gallipoli, so the names of the dead are marked on slabs of stone containing an inscription, each slab being cemented into the top of a large concrete block. General Fabian Ware mentions that all ships passing in and out of the Dardanelles will have a sight on the high ground above Cape Helles of a monument rising 100 feet against tho sky. On this are inscribed the names of the ships and military units which took part in the Gallipoli campaign, and on the walls round the base will be carved the names of 12,000 men of Britain and Ireland who fell, together with those of 200 Australians who died at Helles, the rest being commemorated on Lone Pine Hill. This memorial only awaits the fixing of the stone tablets bearing the names Then it will be completed. The report is well illustrated, includ ing several pictures of memorials of overseas interest, and for this reason it will be valued by many The War Graves Commission, 82 Baker Street, London, W.l, also compiles cemetery and memorial registers for official use. Copies can be obtained at the cost price of 3s a part, post free on application to the cemetery register branch of the commission.