GRAVES ON GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 9, 6 October 1919, Page 4

GRAVES ON GALLIPOLI

INFORMATION WANTED' FROM SOLDIERS. Since the. conclusion of the Gullipoli campaign, the military authorities have been collectng al'l available information concerning the burial of New Zealanderd on-the-.Peninsula. After the armistice, a special', party from the Canterbury Mounted' Rifles visited Oallip'oli for the purpose of locating graves, and ensuring, the permanence of identification marks. Ciu'ii was taken to locate the burial t;p-..ts by exact markings, and the taking of bearings, and everything possible was done to identify the individual grave?. The result .of this* visit was commiinivaU'U to the Imperial Graves Commission, and to the New Zealand authorities. Now Ilia! all the official data has been got together, it is evident that so far as Iho identification of individual graves is concerned, there, is unfortunately a big void to fii' in the records. A cablegram was recently received' from the New Zealand Records Office in Egypt stating that many graves which have been located on' Gi'.llipoli are known to contain the bodies of New Zenlanders, but their names cannot be ascertained. It is believed that, some nf these graves could be identified from information in the possession of soldiers and next-of-kin in New Zealand. Consequently the Officer in Charge of Base Records, Wellington, js endeavouring to collect any facts or photographs which can be given to him in New Zeai>nd regarding the burying places of individuals, as this will in ninny eases enable the grave to be definitely marked. No matter how meagre, information of this kind will be welcomed, and will-be forwarded to the Graves Registration Unit, in Egypt for action to lie taken. Next-of-kin who know where a soldier relf.tive has been buried should send this information to Base Records, and soldiers who romember where friends were buried should follow the same course, a 6 they wi'l thus be able to afford to many people in New Zealand the consolation of knowing that the grave of one who feill in that campaign will be appropriately marked, and preserved for all time as a memorial of the sacrifice made..