WHERE HEROES SLEEP.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1920, Page 11

WHERE HEROES SLEEP.

PERMANENT WAR CEMETERIES. WORK OF THE COMMISSION The system under which tlis Imperial. Graves Commission, with its elaborate organisation, is carrying 1 out its. work on all battlefields whera soldiers of the British Empire died, was described, by Captain <l.. !3. Keesing, who, after serving in the Australian Imperial Force,, was in charge of Australian memorial work in all theatres of war, and. of the Anzac interests in Oallipoli, being official adviser to the Australian l . High Commissioner on the Graves Commission.. Captain Keesing was concerned with; permanent memorials and cemeteries, the work of keeping Anzac graves, in temporary order being' carried out by Captain Bigg-Wither, of Auckland..

The temporary work on the-cemeteries-, said Captain Keesing, was being done by Eritish laibor units, which recorded ail burials and sent all information to thos Imperial Commission, which was responsible for keeping the. permanent cemeteries in order. In France scattered graves were being concentrated 1 in cemeteries. This work, which was well in hand, was absolutely necessary, becausetens of thousands of graves wouldi otherwise disappear when the towns and fields were restored. The British authorities had arranged with the French Government for all ground occupied by British: cemeteries to be permanently handed over to a Franco-British Commission. The final numflber of British cemeteries in France would be nearly 2000. The putting of all these burial grounds into permanent order would take years, the work already having been greatly hampered by the congestion that existed on French roads and railways. It had been agreed that each cemetery should be surrounded by a substantial wall, and in those of any size there would be a record house, a giant stone cross and a giant altar in stone. Each grave would have a uniform headstone, no differences being allowed. This decision would ensure a uniform memorial for rich and poor, and for all ranks. In the case of men of the Christian religion there would be an incised cross on the headstone, and in the case of men of other faiths the special symbol of their religion would take the place of the cross. Further, on each stone there would be a space for a text of a limited number of letters. In thia connection the Imperial Graves Commission was sending out forms on which the text desired by the next-of-kin would be supplied. In Egypt and Palestine the same course would be generally adopted. An Anzac the graves were how being removed to permanent situations, in cases where the ground waß unsound, and likely to collapse. The plan was to make the whole of Anzae into one large cemetery with the graves in groups on the actual sites of battles. A central memorial in the form of a massive obelisk with a record house would be erected at Lone Pine.

Captain Keesing stated that anyone desiring to forward, or obtain, any information about graves should address their communication?, to the Imperial War Graves Commission, Winchester House, St. James' Square, London, or, preferably, to the High Commissioner for New Zealand-