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Category: Cemeteries

Cemeteries of the Great War

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and Der Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (Volksbund) the organizations tasked with Honouring The Fallen featured extensively by CEFRG. Over 600 of these cemeteries of the Great War visited by CEFRG on the Western Front.  Lest often visited cemeteries include those of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), Belgian national cemeteries, and French national cemeteries, such as  La nécropole nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, the world’s largest French military cemetery.

IWGC

The CWGC formerly known as the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). Two men had a vision for the IWGC, and their contribution must be Remembered to better appreciate Great War cemeteries.  Major-General Sir Fabian Arthur Goulstone Ware KCVO KBE CB CMG was a newspaper editor and the founder of the IWGC. Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English writer and poet. He was the Commission’s Literary Adviser and also one of its original founding members in 1917.

Sir Fabian Arthur Goulstone Ware KCVO KBE CB CMG

On 21 May 1917, Ware was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the IWGC, established by Royal Charter. By the end of the war, Ware had been twice Mentioned in Dispatches and had been made the rank of Major-General. In 1920, he became a Knight of two orders in recognition of his work during the Great War. Major-General Sir Fabian Ware died on 29 April 1949, aged 79. Buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Amberley, his grave marked with a Commission headstone.

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling wrote pamphlets and poetry in support of the war effort, essentially writing propaganda in support of the war and to encourage men to enlist and fight.  While he did not himself fight in the war, Kipling not without his own personal loss during the conflict. His son, John Kipling, fought and died at the Battle of Loos in 1915. John’s body not identified after the war, and buried as an unknown soldier, with John’s name inscribed on the Loos Memorial. In 1992, nearly 60 years after his  death, former Chief Records Officer, and current Canadian War Historian Norm Christie found John’s body.  John Kipling rests in St. Mary’s A.D.S. Cemetery, now commemorated alongside his comrades.

  • Canadian Cemetery No. 2 Neuville-St. Vaast in the Great War

    Canadian Cemetery No. 2 Neuville-St. Vaast in the Great War

    Battle of Vimy Ridge

    Canadian Cemetery No 2 established by the Canadian Corps. Following the successful storming of Vimy Ridge led by General Julian Byng on 9 April 1917. Some of those buried in the cemetery fell in the battle or died of wounds received there. Although, the majority of the graves transferred here in the years following the Great War. Later, the dead recovered from surrounding battlefields and isolated graves over a period of years after the Armistice, 1919 – 1923.

    Canadian Cemetery No 2 Neuville-St. Vaast

    The cemetery covers an area of 10,869 square metres. Enclosed by low walls of coursed stone. There are nearly 3,000 Great War casualties commemorated in this site.

    Their Glory shall not be blotted out

    Twenty-nine soldiers once buried in the 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade Cemetery. Many graves destroyed during the Great War. The 11th C.I.B. cemetery was located near Gunner’s Crater in Givenchy-en-Gohelle. These graves are commemorated by special memorial headstones, inscribed with an additional quotation. Their Glory shall not be blotted out.

    Open Cases – the late Richard VanWyck Laughton

    There are no case files for this cemetery on the CWGC list as of April 2019. However, the late Richard Laughton had uncovered a plethora of compelling cases prior to his death, in Milton, Ontario, in September 2020 – for this single CWGC cemetery! Laughton responsible for the positive identification of many Unknowns, and unrecognized for so many more in other cemeteries across the Western Front.

    One such example at Canadian Cemetery No. 2 reveals the contributions of the late Mr. Laughton are sorely missed.

    UBS (“Tyne” on knife) from the East Yorkshire Regiment at Sheet 51b.H.30.c.1.8. Which is 6,000 yards due east of Arras, north of Monchy-le-Preux. Private William Tythe #34267 is missing at that location on 21 April 1917. Thus, listed on the Arras Memorial. They were digging a new connecting trench from 51b.I.31.c.9.5 to 51b.H.36.d.6.6. Suddenly, 7 O.R. were KIA. Others lost that day were recovered. Such as Saxby at 51b.H.20.d.8.4 and Windas at 51b.I.25.d.1.5. That puts Tythe and Windas less than 600 yards apart. About 1,000 yards north of the trench line. Probably on the road (track) to Pelves on the southside of the Scarpe.

    There is a map showing them on that Pelves Lane in 51b.H.30 as early as 12 April 1917. Remaining there until the major attack on 23 April 1917. This has to be more than just coincidence! There were 30 men on the Medal Rolls with the last name Tyne. One of whom had an affiliation to the East Yorkshire Regiment #38036, prior to the Royal Munster Fusiliers #18587. And, one #TR/581586 discharged sick. No Tyne’s with the East Yorkshire Regiment were killed in the Great War.

    Richard VanWyck Laughton

    Location Information

    Neuville-St. Vaast a village about 6 kilometres north of Arras. One kilometre east of the main road from Arras to Bethune. The Cemetery within the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park. North of Neuville-St. Vaast. The main entrance to the Park signposted from the Arras to Lens road (N17).

    A large crowd of pilgrims and French onlookers gather at Vimy for the dedication of the monument, 26 July 1936. MIKAN No. 3224321
    A large crowd of pilgrims and French onlookers gather at Vimy for the dedication of the monument. 26 July 1936. MIKAN No. 3224321

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