The Commonwealth War Graves Commission ensures that 1.7 million people who died in the two world wars will never be forgotten. The Commission cares for cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations, in 153 countries.
The work was begun by a Red Cross Unit in 1915 which sought to record the place where each man who fell in the terrible slaughter rested. By 1917, it had British Government recognition and after the Armistice work began in earnest. Almost 587,000 named graves had been identified and almost as many casualties were registered as having no known grave.
In the twenty-first century, the Commission maintains a website that allows searches to be made across all CWGC cemeteries for an individual soldier and returns location maps, detailed plans and images; or for a particular cemetery.
The work was begun by a Red Cross Unit in 1915 which sought to record the place where each man who fell in the terrible slaughter rested. By 1917, it had British Government recognition and after the Armistice work began in earnest. Almost 587,000 named graves had been identified and almost as many casualties were registered as having no known grave.
In the twenty-first century, the Commission maintains a website that allows searches to be made across all CWGC cemeteries for an individual soldier and returns location maps, detailed plans and images; or for a particular cemetery.
How to make good use of the site
Paul Milner wrote a series of posts on his blog explaining in detail how he searches the CWGC site. The article entitled WWI – Finding the Dead – Commonwealth War Graves Commission was published in March 2014 in 3 parts.
Paul Milner wrote a series of posts on his blog explaining in detail how he searches the CWGC site. The article entitled WWI – Finding the Dead – Commonwealth War Graves Commission was published in March 2014 in 3 parts.