The Basra War Cemetery is a military cemetery in Basra, Iraq, built for soldiers killed during the Mesopotamian campaign in the First World War.
In 1935 the site was cleared of gravestones due to their deterioration and a Memorial Screen Wall was installed with the names of the men buried there – none of which survive.
Opposite lies the Indian Forces Cemetery. The combined two cemeteries contain the remains of almost 5,000 servicemen primarily from WW1, some civilian graves and a few from World War II.
It was maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) until 2007. [1] [2] Those buried at the cemetery include Victoria Cross recipient George Godfrey Massy Wheeler, and Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk.[ citation needed ]
The Daily Telegraph reported on 10 November 2013 that the cemetery had been damaged, with a number of headstones knocked down and broken by looters and vandals. [1] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission subsequently cleared the site of all grave markers before abandoning the site, the cross of sacrifice and plinth. Local neighbors then started using the area as a football and games field.
The graves themselves remain undisturbed and the sub bases remain in place making individual graves relatively easy to identify. As of July 2024 the CWGC has no plans to return to the country and renovate or maintain any of the cemeteries and monuments there representing approximately 100,000 British Forces casualties.
In July 2024 a relative of a soldier buried there from 1941 visited the site and laid a new gravestone. The first new grave stone to be laid for over 80 years.
El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres (66 mi) west of Alexandria and 300 kilometres (186 mi) northwest of Cairo.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
The Kranji War Cemetery is located in Kranji, Singapore, and is the final resting place for Allied soldiers who perished during the Battle of Singapore and the subsequent Japanese occupation of the island from 1942 to 1945 and in other parts of Southeast Asia during World War II.
Sai Wan War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in Chai Wan, Hong Kong which was built in 1946. The cemetery was created to commemorate soldiers of Hong Kong Garrison who perished during the Second World War. The cemetery also contains 12 World War I burials. A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly from the Commonwealth, are commemorated here. Most of the remaining burials are located at the Stanley Military Cemetery.
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II American military war grave cemetery, lying between the villages of Coton and Madingley, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-west of Cambridge, England. The cemetery, dedicated in 1956, contains 3,811 American war dead and covers 30.5 acres (12.3 ha). It is one of 26 overseas military cemeteries administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
Aldershot Military Cemetery is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel and their families, located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire.
The Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn, sometimes called the Tallinn Military Cemetery, is one of the three cemeteries of the Tallinn City Centre Cemetery. It is situated about 3 kilometres outside the centre of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. During Estonian independence before the Soviet and German occupations of the 1940–1991 period, it was Estonia's foremost military cemetery.
The Taukkyan War Cemetery is a cemetery for Allied soldiers from the British Commonwealth who died in battle in Burma during the Second World War. The cemetery is in the village of Taukkyan, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Yangon on Pyay Road. It is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Madras War Cemetery is located in Nandambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was created to receive Second World War graves from civil and cantonment cemeteries in the south and east of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The Bayeux War Cemetery is the largest Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France, located in Bayeux, Normandy. The cemetery contains 4,648 burials, mostly from the Invasion of Normandy. Opposite this cemetery stands the Bayeux Memorial which commemorates more than 1,800 casualties of the Commonwealth forces who died in Normandy and have no known grave.
The Cassino War Cemetery is a war grave cemetery in the commune of Cassino, Province of Frosinone, 139 kilometres (86 mi) south-east of Rome, Italy.
Andersons Bay Cemetery is a major cemetery in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the southeast of the city centre, on a rocky outcrop which forms the inland part of Lawyers Head, a promontory which juts into the Pacific Ocean. The cemetery is bounded on the western and southern sides by Chisholm Park Golf Links, and to the east by steep slopes which descend to the Tomahawk Lagoon. Despite its name, the cemetery is located in the suburb of Tahuna, which lies immediately to the south of the suburb of Andersons Bay, and almost 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the former bay itself, at the head of the Otago Harbour.
Welford Road Cemetery is a public cemetery in Leicester, England.
The Jerusalem War Cemetery is a British cemetery in Jerusalem for fallen servicemen of the British Commonwealth in the World War I in the Palestine campaign.
Hamburg Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery is a war cemetery which was built and is looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The war graves of 676 Commonwealth service personnel from World War I and 1,889 from World War II are located near Chapel 12 in the greater Ohlsdorf Cemetery in the Ohlsdorf quarter of Hamburg.
The Helles Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial near Sedd el Bahr, in Turkey, on the headland at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula overlooking the Dardanelles. It includes an obelisk which is over 30 metres (98 ft) high.
The Basra Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial near Zubayr, Iraq. The memorial commemorates 40,682 Commonwealth forces members who died during the Mesopotamian Campaign, from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921, and whose graves are not known. The memorial was designed by Edward Prioleau Warren. It was unveiled by Gilbert Clayton on 27 March 1929. Originally located eight kilometres north of Basra, near the Shatt al-Arab River, it was moved southwest in 1997 to a battleground from the much more recent Gulf War.
The Amara War Cemetery is a First World War British military cemetery in Amara, now known as Amarah, southern Iraq, that is the responsibility of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). It contains more than 4,600 graves including three recipients of the Victoria Cross but is now in poor condition as the CWGC have not been able to work in Iraq since 1991.
The Amara Indian War Cemetery is a military cemetery in Amara, now known as Amarah, southern Iraq, which contains the graves of more than 5,000 Indian soldiers who died during the First World War. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).
The Delhi War Cemetery, in the Delhi Cantonment, Delhi, India, is the site of the graves of 1,154 service personnel who served the British Empire during the First and Second World Wars. The cemetery was established in 1951 to ensure the permanent preservation of the remains of soldiers across various cemeteries in northern India.