GRAVES OF THE FALLEN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 190, 7 May 1919, Page 8

GRAVES OF THE FALLEN

[ WORK OF THE IMPERIAL COMMISSION j PLANS FOR THE FUTURE i The work of the Imperial Graves Com- | mission'will be carried on long after tho | Peace'lTreaty; has been signed (says the [ "Morning Post/.' in a recent,issue); It j is one ojh great importance, and affects ! thousands iof war-bereaved ■ families in ! every part of tho Empire. -'The scatteri ed oemeteries 'o'f many battlefields and the lonely grave of the single soldier are I ' alike in its care, and with the-object of I letting the public know as accurately as possible the exact intentions qf the i Commission we give 'a'description of its i work and , its ; plans, written under the | authority of *tlie Commission by Mr. i Kudyard Kipling':— The origin and development of. the i Graves Commission is very simple, says i the writer. of the war ; the different armies engaged created ori Kivnisations, nndor tho direction of tho | . War Office, to'register, mark, and tend |. the graves of British soldiers, as well as ; .to answer inquiries from relatives, and, [; where possible, to send them photographs j of the graves. . Later, a National C'onij mittee was constituted; which, on the i suggestion of the Prince of Wales, who [. took a keen personal. interest, in the I work, was expanded into nn Imperial |. Commission representing the Dominions, j India, the . colonies, the fighting services, i labour, the great public Departments inI terested, and the" British Red Cross. ! which latter had supplied, as it still I does to a considerable extent,' the funds j for. photographing and planting the : graves. ~ ■ ■ The finance 1 of the Commission is Imperial. All parts of" the Empire have | generously and unreservedly promised to ! bear their share of; the expenses. Tho | Imperial War Conference, having consid- }" s ered the proposals of the Commission, ' passed the following resolution on June 17. 1918: "The Conference desires to j. place on record its appreciation of the | iabonrs of the Imperial War Graves Com- ; . mission, and is in favour:,of the cost of ' carrying out tho decisions of the ComI • being borne by the respective j Governments in proportion to tho nuinj bers of the graves, of their dead." I The Cemeteries. I With the growth of the war the Comj tt'iesion'a work naturally covered every i" part of the world where the men of the Empire had <served and died, from the I : vast and known cities of our dead in r, Flanders and France, to hidden and out--1 lying burial grounds, of a few. score at 'the ends of (lie earth. Those restingj places are situated on every conceivable i site—on bare hills .flayed .by years of f battle, in orchards and meadows, beI side, populous towns or little villages, in junglo glades, at coast ports, in fnr-away | 'islands, among desert sands, and desolate j-' ravines. It would bo as impossible as i undesirable. to reduce them all to any ! uniformity of aspect by'planting or by architecture.: ; : In a war where the full strength of na- | 1 tions was used without; respect of peri sons, no difference : could 'be piade bei tween the graves of t>fficers;or men. Yet i some sort of central' idea was needed that | should symbolise our common sacrifice I wherever our dead might be laid; and. 1 above all, each cemetery - and •■-individual |. grave should be made as permanent as i man's art could devise. !- • The commission instructed Sir Frederic I Kenyon to report how thek aims could. ; best be realised; and lie, after consulting | ;very fully with the'relat«-e3, representatives of tho Sen-ices, Keffgion, and kit, \ and knowing the practical limitations, par- | ticularly in obtaining labour, for carrying ! out such a vast undertaking, rocommendi ed that in each cemetery tihere should | stand a. Cross of Sacrifice and an altarj like Stone of Remembrance, and that tho I, headstones of the graves-should be of uni- \ form shape and Size. Stone crosses to ;'. succeed the temporary wooden crosses ! were at first suggested, but crosses of i . tho small size necessitated by the near- ; iiess of the graves to each other do. not' | allow sufficient space for the men's names | and the .inscriptions, and are by- their ( 6hape too fragile and too subject to tho !. actioir of frost and weather-for enduring f use. Plain headstones, measuring 2ft. 6in. by Ift. 3in. were, therefore, chosen, ; upon which the Cross or other religious i. symbol of the dead man's faith could be ; carved.And this regimental .badgp'fully. diei played.' The Regiments' have^Men 'con--1 to the. designs of tTieso badges, 1 6oine of which have now been ajiproved ! and are ready for engraving as soon as experiments' which !are being carried on have, as there is reason to hope, shown bow to overcome the difficulties' of deal- ! ingvwith siichr'numbers. lii,.due;'itimo, then, ■ wherever a man may ;be buried, i from East Africa to North Russia, Ws ; 'headstone '-will carry his " regimental I badge, identifiable the world oyer. ''.Be- . sides the' fighting' forces, piwision must : be made for -the graves;of the"morchant ; seamen arid, discharged'men whose deaths ! were due 1 to .enemy faction; fqr, sisters and nurses killed .or,'died of/ wounds or , disease; for Labour ■ units of all ' races,- • and, indeed,"for all who have'served in lany capaoity .iii the, war. The, distinctive ! badges of these headstones 'are not yet | decided on. ' - • .' .. In addition to the name aiid rank on the headstone, tho commission feel that | relatives should, if, they wish, add a short inscription of their own choice as an ex- !. pressioh of personal' feeling and affection. These inscriptions will be at'tlie relatives' expense, and, to avoid unduly crowding '! the stones with '.very small lettering, which, besides being difficult to read, ■ does not weather well, It has been found necessary to-restrict - the length of the/ | inscription to sixty-five letters.: ~ ! Every cemete'ry will'keep registers of i the dead buried there, and in tlieso regis-. i ters it is hoped that it will be possible, i with the, assistance of his kin, to enter ! the age, parentage, and birthplace of each j known man. |. The planning and planting of the cemei; teries must depend, largely on their 6it'e : 'and the climate of the country, but it is, ' proposed that, as a general rule, the ; cemeterits should have buildings designed ; for services, ceremonies, and shelter,' ; where tho register of that cemetery will ' be kept under permanent safeguard, i To recapitulatoi (1) For each cemetery i its Cross of Sacrifice and Stone "of lic- : membrance; (2) for each grave its endur- ■ , ing headstone carved with tho symbol of ;' the dead man's faith, his name and-rank, his regimental badge, and whatever text j' or inscription his relatives may add; (3) in the cemetery building the register, in i which the man's birthplace,- age, and j parentage can be recorded and referred to.

! ' Graves of Indian Troops. ; . The symbols of their faith will also bo carved on the headstones of the soldiers ; of the Indian Armies who fought beside j their comrades' from England Jicd ■ throughout the Empire in. Franco and ■ Belgium in 1914-16; and of the Indian ' Labour Corps who have since worked and ' taken tho risks of life behind the lines. I 'A-committee of the commission has de- :, cided upon the form -that these symbols should take, and has further recommend- > ed 1 tha,t . a Mohammedan mosque and j Hindu temple should be orected in Franco ; for remembrance of tho 6acrifico made l>y ; Hindus and Mohammedans alike in tho | -war.

; The designs for these buildings have [ been submitted for approval in India. In • all such matters the treatment _ of the' | bodies of these soldiers will be in strict | conformity to tho practice of their reiligions. and will be carried out under the ■' supervision of native officers. ; After 60 many years of fighting over j densely-populated and civilised countries i like Prance and Belgium it is inevitable I that there must be single graves and ! groups in positions-where,' when the life ; of the land goes forward again, the.v can- ■ not be reached or tended. Some lie in : what were once town or village thorough- '■ fares and will be so again; others by. tho ' side of railway stations and goods-ynrils, ; houses, or factories, in arable or nastm-o : fields, parks,, gardens, and. the like, '''lie i objections to. leaving these'gra\-es where ; thev a.re need not bp dwelt upon. No :' -precautions will save them from being eni croached uiwn or obliterated in the course L of time. There k moreover, a strong 1 sentiment among all ranks that such scatI tered grave? look lonely; and the instinct i of the Services demands-that those who fell by the wayside should be gathered : in to rest with the nearest main body of \ their companions. That is what the commission. with all duo care and reverence, I -proposes to do. i In view of tho enormous number (over I half a million) of o.ur dead in Franco | alone, the removal of bodies to England j -«idd be impossible, even were there a

genoral de3ire for it. .But the overwhelming majority of relatives are content that their kin should lie—officers ami men together—in the countries that they have redeemed. The Allied nations, too, have freely given their land to our dead for ever, and that offer has been accepted by the Governments, 'l'o allow exhumation and removal in the few cases where it has been suggested would, it seemed to the'commission, be undesirable, if only on the principle of equality, ami, judging from what many gallant lighters have said and written before they in turn fell, a violation, in all but a few special cases, of the desire of the dead themselves. Battle Memorials. Memorials to commemorate the parts borne by particular armies, divisions, or regiments in campaign's ana battles, e-ucix as, to nurne only a very few, the Canadians at Ypres, the South Africans at Delviile Vvood, the Australians at Amiens, the British. at the breaking of the Hindeuburg line, will be advised upon by a fully representative Military Committee, and it is to be hoped that the best art of the limpiro will give its services and advice in the designing of them. But the work so far has only been blocked out, and there is room and welcome for-suggestions of every kind from the public throughout tho World, whose servants tho commission are. For example, it lias been suggested tljat the entrance to individual cemeteries should (sorry a text or inscription, ana n nus been decided that monuments should be erected to the dead whose graves are unknown, of a special fonu which has yet to be settled. These are points, ainong others, upou, v which the commission would be gratetuFior expressions of opiniou. Meantime, the long and difficult business of identification and registration goes forward still on all fronts. The various architects to whose charge the cemeteries have been allotted are preparing their designs for the planting and the buildings required in France, and steps are being taken to prepare dignified and characteristic designs tor our cemeteries in the East and elsewhere. All this can be effected in reasonable time; but there is no possibility of expediting tlie delivery of the headstones. More than half a million of these will be required, and at present there is ' not labour enough in all the world to cut, carve, and letter them. 'While they are being made the wooden crosses will stand, and, gwliere necessary, will be renewed; the registers will be filled and filed, and the cemeteries will be faithfully-and reverently tended, RUDYARD KIPLING.