War Graves Commermoration

[fmackay]

I have recently been sucessful in an application I made to the Department of Veterans' Affairs for a bronze plaque to be erected on the grave of my great uncle James Mackay who died in 1925 in Dumbleyung Western Australia. He wasn't entitled to a war grave but thanks to a distant cousin I applied on the basis that when he died, his cause of death was connected to a condition he had which was made worse by active service. He was pensioned out of the war before the end. It will take about 6 months for the plaque to be erected.

[joette]

Well done FMcKay. =D> =D> =D>

[reinawhyte]

I was interested to read about your contact with the War Graves Commission (or commemoration). I have been trying to find out more info about the death at sea of my maternal grandfather in 1943. There do not seem to be any records anywhere of him and am wondering if you can give me any leads, please? Would be most grateful.

[fmackay]

HI

This is the link I used to make contact initially - hope it helps.

http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/OAWG ... index.aspx

regards
Fiona

[puffin]

You can search on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for casualties in WW1 and WW2.

See:

http://www.cwgc.org/

and

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

If there is a named grave then the location of this will be identified.

Hope that is helpful and that you find your relative.

Puffin

[Roxy]

And if there is no known grave, you will get details of the place of commemoration.

Roxy

[puffin]

.........and you can search for casualties or for particular named war cemeteries. In the latter there are alphabetically ordered lists of the names and details of all casualties buried there.

.........and, to make it a little more confusing, if there is a grave in a Commonwealth War Grave Commission Cemetery that is marked as the grave of an unknown soldier, or unknown airman, or unknown sailor etc., with the force in which the casualty served, a date of burial or date of death, you will not be able to find these via the searchable Cemetery Lists that are given for each CWGC Cemetery.

If you visit the respective CWGC Cemetery then you will find and see one or more, or many more of such "unknown" graves.

So to a large extent these "unknowns" remain unknown unless you visit the actual cemetery.

Why these " unknown" casualties are left off the online Cemetery Lists is not understood by me.

Puffin

[Lorna Allison]

Hope I am not intruding but my question refers to the memorial at Loos. My relative is listed as follows:

5th Battalion Cameron Higlanders :
Pte. Thomas TAIT; 26; b. Scotland; d. 25.9.1915; in France or Belgium; Killed in Action (Battle of Loos)

I have since noted many other deaths in other regiments on the exact same day. Does anyone know what this particular battle or push might have been? Will the date be exact or just a guess when the body was brought in? It has seemed to me that the Loos area battle was over an extended period but with so many dying on one particular day I wondered if I could give a name to his particular area of involvement.

Regards

Lorna

[LesleyB]

Hi Lorna

A good site for this is :
http://www.1914-1918.net/
Hidden away in there is lots of info.

There are also some battles described here - I think it is an ongoing project with items being added from time to time
http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid= ... &menu=main

Also the Great War forum is great:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/

Best wishes
Lesley

[puffin]

You will find the information relating on the CWGC Website if you search under the Cemeteries Heading where first of all ( for Loos) this will appear

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_Res ... &send.y=15

Then, if you choose a particular cemetery from this list you will get something like this ( ie for No. 5 listed - Loos Memorial

LOOS MEMORIAL
Country: France
Locality: Pas de Calais
Visiting Information: Wheelchair access to the cemetery is possible, but may be by alternative entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on 01628 507200. The Panel Numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels. Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative panel numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panels.
Location Information: Loos-en-Gohelle is a village 5 kilometres north-west of Lens, and Dud Corner Cemetery is located about 1 kilometre west of the village, to the north-east of the N43 the main Lens to Bethune road.
Historical Information: Dud Corner Cemetery stands almost on the site of a German strong point, the Lens Road Redoubt, captured by the 15th (Scottish) Division on the first day of the battle. The name "Dud Corner" is believed to be due to the large number of unexploded enemy shells found in the neighbourhood after the Armistice. The Loos Memorial forms the sides and back of Dud Corner Cemetery, and commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semicircular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice. The memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Charles Wheeler. It was unveiled by Sir Nevil Macready on 4 August 1930.

So you have to look at the various cemeteries to see in which major actions the casualties might have fallen.

Hope this is of help

Puffin