WAR GRAVES IN FRANCE

Southland Times, Issue 18831, 26 May 1920, Page 7

WAR GRAVES IN FRANCE

ALLEGATIONS OF NEGLECT AND DESECRATION. At tiling to Brigadier-General Johnston from the Soldier-’ Club, Millers Brctonne.iux. under date .March 1-1, Miss Ettie Rout tells of matte:-, of much interest in regard to some of the cemeteries in France in which the New Zealand dead rest. Having detailed ttic great area of ground over which she travelled on a push-bicycle, Miss Rom- .-ays:—“.Many of the cemeteries are away from the road and not at all clearly indicated by signposts. I !■ the cemeteries in the localities nann-d--in some places there are several cam--: cries. Son'caimcs these contain only one nr p.-.o New Zealand dead; sometimes more, lor example, ar Colincamps Communal C-. met cry there are nine New Zealand gra . . —ail marked with our own crosses: ai Maily-Maillet Communal Cenici'ery there am some four or five; at Fu’scn:; Military Cemetery there are seven New Zealand grave. six marked with our own crosses and one wiMi the Directorate of Graves Registration Unit cross. This cemetery is mn.-t unget-at-able; in fact, all the ceiuet.ries round about Goiamecourt Ridge an- diffb-uli to reach, and the country itself is sstill in war-time condition—trenches, tanks. I>arbcd-wire entanglements, etc., etc.; ruin and desolation everywhere. ATTENTION URGENTLY NEEDED. “In the groat majority of the cemeteries visited, the cros.-c- stand in need of attention. I tok a few photographs showing instances of th-e faihm crosses and crosses standing awry, etc., which will be sent you later; bur the weather was very lead for photography, and 1 could not do much in this way. I hound some of the New Zealand crosses lying flat on the ground, others broken and dilapidated: hut the majority of the crosses made by our own soldiers for their dead comrades were in good order, and. needed only straightening and strengthening; but they need this now. "T’ae worst cemetery I saw anywhere was the New Zealand CVmeiery in the garden of the Oomniccourt Chateau. It contains about GO graves, .71 of them Now Zealand graves, every province being represented. The crosses were eery well made ,by our own men in the first instance, legibly and. durably inscribed, anti the graves properly formed. They are now utterly no-

.elected. The gunE.-i is a mass of huge .■■h'all-Jvles. some of them water-logged; the graves are covered v. ith hist season's thistles and docks, etc. There is no fence round this cemetery and I was warned by the officers of one of the burial parries working jtea.r-by nor in touch the wires sticking 3Ut of the old ge.fe post, as they believed it

was min n d ' a 'booby-trap.’' "The Barorows of Gommeeourf. wishes to have these graves removed from her garden. as she intends to rebuild the chateau, .am! our graves are right in front of this. The burial party officers informed me that they have been instructed to leave the Oomniei our; Chateau .graves and treat- it as a 'private c-inePTy.’ I think you should, replies; the' Din-ctora-re of Craves Registration immediately to remove these graves am! the say. to Oommeeourt No. cemetery. wh-re many other New Zealand dead now rest. T > ESC LATE AND UNKEMPT.” The seven graves at PuUeux cemetery should al-o be removed there with the crosses. It is nor rmeessary to go into details with r< gird fiv all the cemeteries visited. It is -chiicimir to say that la.r-re numbers of ot.r own graves -ire in a desolate and unkempt n ■•;. i : ri m, end if the New Zealand pcoole at i pure charge tie* New Zealand eurhorkb-s with n-glect am! irreverence the charge canmo hmiourably be denied. either bv yourself or by :he High Commissioner. With the •jit e - t-i oit of individual responsibiii'y I am nor really concerned. I run concerned only with ste.ting the facts, and -uggesting which will avoid grave scandal and great pain for the New Zeals:: ! pet-pie at Home. Di-riDl VI. "VANDALISM.” At Ashieux I met sonv u the members of th 1 In.aerial (irave-; Commission, inspectover from the Dd.i.U., and. are proceeding t i des t’m- manner agreed upon by the Imperial bur-umeracy. Tire crosses made by New demand and ~,her soldiers for their dead commies am being wrenched, out and thrown aside to be burnt, and replaced by the "uniform heads-:one," of the same shape lira! ugliness as a rni'e,pine. In many eases desolate women have travelled thousands of miles o.i fit in fair and seemly order the grave of their own dead. Sometimes they have brought a- b from tie-;:- own homegardens, am I wa'mri ‘1 the;;; v. ith trhair tears ground.. Are tlm-e olents to be tugged out and cast iirn rubbish heaps in order to j impose some lanU-va; e-gardetung scheme on our men’s .-brines? Women do nor want wide, wide wells of -dorm slabs built round j fhe-v cemeteries: they do not want ‘'uniformity" ; their loss is individual. The dea.d are ’ women's males or wom- n’s offspring; bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh; and b 's simer vandalism to turn these i oememrV-- in! a skull m i-trim-cs. do long as | the r.-ie ;b.v ; do nnf encro'>eh on the adj.a- J rent graves, of course they should he per- j smtfed to -rect what memorials iney wish, j per examme. at [Tauter:;;- ;e iicierv, Captain r-Vd ’-us’s relative-- u..".■■■ arranged his grave they wish t-o have it; a cross erect - cd ’ov 1 1 ■ : 1 -■ b. - r"'i. '■ i:d wreaths placed cn th.e gra.vo and llw cm's. Powers planted now in full bloom, and an earthenware border enclosing riv- plot. Are such family tributes to be rudely and, irreverently removed because N. w Zealand is supposed p, have “handed over" the graves of her own dead $o am. Imperial fbu-nmUsioTi V HIDEOUS UNIFORM HEADSTONES. y. n sav the New Zealand. High f'nmmisxoner cl a. it ns v* r 11 1 r■ - nul uorpy. Hut the High < -ar. bee virtue of his office, cannot come into eon diet wi’h the Imncrie.l suthoeuie- ; it V encumbent upon him at all times to ore serve the official amenities; therefore, he is entirely unsuitable to act as the rote-tor of the interests of bereaved parents. He cannot stand by both the Imperial author'd?.-) and the bereaved parents; and his office preclude.-! his getting into dis- j harmony with the former; therefore, he will Bticrifice the interests cri the latter. Personally. I think, to c. large extant, the Imperial Craves Corn.ims.-ion business is a piece of 4 jobbery.’ It is* ridiculous to suggest that ’‘uniformity’ could or should be ensured in Shese military cemeteries. How is it to be j done? There are French graves, German j graves. New Zealand graves, English graves, | Australian graves in the one cemeteries— | sometimes Portuguese and Chinese and j

Hindu as well. Is the Imperial Graves Commission going to inflict its hideous fceatUtonos on ail the French soldiers’ p-;ivct> —at the expense of the British Empire? Is a Chinese labour coolie to have the same headstone as a German soldier—at the expense of the British Empire? Often Germans, English, Australians are buried side bv side ; how is this ridiculous scheme of ‘uniformidty’ to be carried out? As to when it will be finished. I was blandly and complacently informed by the members of the Ccma ti-oion I met that it would take at least ton years! And that all the colonial wives and mothers should bo "told viot to come to visit, the graves of their dead. SOME SUGGESTIONS. Miss Rout, in her letter, goes on to refer at some considerable length to British Parliamentary and press criticisms following on the decision in favour of the uniform type of memorial and she makes the following suggestions:—• 1. That the Imperial War Graves Commission should he instructed authoritatively to leave all Xew Zealand graves untouched ss they stand at the end of March, 1920. 2. That the care of these graves is the ee.cred duty and pride of the New Zealand people as a whole raid of the relatives of the dead in particular. g. That the New Zealand military authorities should immediately engage a few mounted men to act as caretakers of the J*ew Zealand graves temporarily. 4. That the New Zealand Red Cross should undertake the permanent care of tho New

Zealand graves, and raise voluntary subscriptions in New Zealand for this purpose, such subscriptions to he subsidised by the New Zealand Government at Home. 5. That a complete record of all New ZZealand graves- should be made immediately (no such record is available at present). and Mew Zealand graves’ record office established in London permanently. 6. That the New Zealand people should be given an opportunity of saying what kind of memorial they wished to have erected on each grave, and that every possible freedom of expression be. accorded the relatives: and that these memorials be erected this summer by the Mew Zealand military authorities.

7. That special arrangements be made win I’adre Molyncux, who is now in France, to act as the accredited representative of the Mew Zealand military authorities in receiving and directing visiting rela-ti'-es from New Zealand, “Unless some such arrangements as these are made immediately," adds Miss Rout, “I am convinced that the New Zealand women will feel, when they know the real facts-, that their rights as mothers and wives and si.-tors and sweethearts have been wantonly trampled upon and their trust care-le-sly betrayed by thus*- who should have acted as guardians and protectors.” “MORE THAN DISTRESSING.”

Writing in the N.Z. Times after reading Miss Rout’s letter “N.Z.M.U.” says:

1 reatl with interest, the article on the subject of New Zealand soldiers’ graves iu France. I’erhaps, having been recently over the whole ground covered by our New Zealand Division, I am in a more or less unique position, and I can heartily endorse the sentiments expressed by Miss Rout. In the end of lb IS the N.Z.E.F. constituted a body known as the New Zealand Graves’ Registration Unit. As the appointment of officers, n.c.o.’s and specialists of the small unit should come from those whose work iluring the war would place them in a posirio not' use therein, the Divisional Commander was asked by N.Z.E.F. headquarters in London to nominate an officer for these duties. The officer nominated by MajorGenerai Russel! was, however, not appointed, but the appointment was made by N.Z.Fj.F. headquarters, London, in conjunction with the High Commissioner. Although this tmit arrived in France in February, 11)19, yet at the lime when I lir.-t came into contact officially with the same at Hazcbrouck, -April 10. no work had been done. Moreover, their officer was in I’aris, said to be seeing the Rt. Hon., the ITime -Minister. The unit was idle, and in a state of ennui at having no orders or work to do. t~oou alter this the Graves' Registration Unit was disbanded, and only the officer, a driver, and photographer remained, and the operations of these were being controlled by those who had not even a knowledge, let alone experince, of France, and the scenes of the division's exploits. 1 have since then (October hist I been over ground again, and it is more than distressing to see tiie state of our comrades’ resting-places, in comparison with those of Canada and Australia. The Canadian and Australian burial (daces are so well cared for, oar own s oncglecteil.

Sir, we are ijot a sentimental race, but the sense of common decency is touched when one views these places, familiar to New eZ aland hearts, as the resting-place of our own. It is not because 1 was the division’s nominee to take charge of this work that I state this; but, having had contact J continuously with held medical units in the j field and with aid posts, and knowing and I having visited the several scenes of the I glory of the finest British tiivision, it seems j t-rangc to me that such ‘ husscr faire” ! should he continued. To fix up nil New i Zealand graves would cost comparatively j little, if properly carried out. It would en- . tail, perhaps, hardship—lonely and desolate ! environment for the workers—(for workers I stick on the job and finish it) —a thing we j cannot expect Imperial units so thoroughly to do, for they have not the tradition of the | country of these dead behind them. It is not | too late. Canada did its own work, so is ! Australia doing her own work in this rej gartl. Why not New eZaland? | Surely this is a job for the Returned SolI diets’ As-octalion to take up. Funds, if faithfully administered, would readily be forthcoming, and those who, with me, volunteered ami are qualified to carry out this noble task lo the credit of New Zealand are still anxious to see things decently done. lu letters received from France, iriends of bygone days, in billets in France ami Belgium, expiv-s frankly their surprise (hat our New eZahmd graves tire as they are; though, in their poverty, those homely folk strive each week to make good our country's neglect. liven m EoEgne it is on record that, in eases. Getmuiw retaining a sense of admiration for New Zealand men. clrnacstinely "da up" our New Zealand ;:r:s\ivj at the Furl Fricdiof cemetery.' DISTINCT BREACH OR FAITH. A letter from "EX N.Z.F.A.” in the N.Z. Tillies say silt was with much interest, mid also painful disgust, that 1 read your article this morning, by .MBs Ft tie Rout, on the graves of "New Zealand soldiers in France. It comes as a big Work to learn that the places we have been told arc being eared for so well, are Uevcioping into wilderness. Like many others, 1 am personally concert tod with a grave in one of the French communal cemeteries, and on the strength of a report in a contemporary a few evenings ago, I have made application for the ] recovery of my own expense, of the tern- 1 may ' joao pat jojo j sso.to uopoo.w as cat; i can imagine with what feelings I read Miss I Rout’s statement that such crosses are being ■ puttied upand burned. Whatever officialdom | may say, : ii returned men who know Miss i Rout, or have heard from others who do | know her, will at once recognise that she is putting actualities before us.