View source for Commonwealth War Graves Commission

{{short description|Commonwealth organisation responsible for war graves}}
{{redirect|CWGC|the secondary school in Hong Kong|Christian Alliance Cheng Wing Gee College}}
{{good article}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{use British English|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox geopolitical organization
| conventional_long_name = Commonwealth War Graves Commission
| linking_name           = 
| image_flag             = 
| symbol_type            = Logo of CWGC
| image_symbol           = Commonwealth War Graves Commission logo.svg
| image_map              = 
| map_width              = 
| map_caption            = 
| org_type               = [[Intergovernmental organisation]] and [[Statutory authority|commission]]
| membership             = {{ubl||{{AUS}}|{{CAN}}|{{IND}}|{{NZL}}|{{RSA}}|{{GBR}} }}
| admin_center_type      = Headquarters
| admin_center           = [[Maidenhead]], United Kingdom
| languages_type         = Official languages
| languages              = [[English language|English]]
| leader_title1          = Patron
| leader_name1           = [[King Charles III]]
| leader_title2          = President
| leader_name2           = [[Anne, Princess Royal]]
| leader_title3          = Director-General
| leader_name3           = [[Claire Horton]]
| established_event1     = Founded as the Imperial War Graves Commission
| established_date1      = {{Start date|1917|05|21|df=yes}}
| established_event2     = Name changed to Commonwealth War Graves Commission
| established_date2      = {{Start date|1960|03|28|df=yes}}
| official_website       = {{Official URL}}
| coa_size               = 200px
| FR_total_population_estimate = 7,403,020,000
| FR_total_population_estimate_year = 2016
}}

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 War]]s. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}} The commission was founded by [[Fabian Ware|Sir Fabian Ware]] and constituted through [[royal charter]] in 1917 as the '''Imperial War Graves Commission'''.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}} The change to the present name took place in 1960.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=63}}

The commission, as part of its mandate, is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally. To this end, the war dead are commemorated by a name on a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. War dead are commemorated uniformly and equally, irrespective of military or civil rank, race or creed.

The commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.7&nbsp;million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 153&nbsp;countries.{{sfn|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2013|p=2}} Since its inception, the commission has constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries and numerous memorials.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}} The commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over 23,000 separate burial sites and the maintenance of more than 200&nbsp;memorials worldwide.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=63}} In addition to commemorating Commonwealth military service members, the commission maintains, under arrangement with applicable governments, over 40,000 non-Commonwealth war graves and over 25,000 non-war military and civilian graves.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}}<ref name="fast facts">{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid=2&submenuid=50&id=50&menuname=Facts%20and%20figures&menu=sub |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111105023549/http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid=2&submenuid=50&id=50&menuname=Facts%20and%20figures&menu=sub |archive-date= 5 November 2011 |title= Facts and figures |publisher= Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=15 December 2009}}</ref> The commission operates through the continued financial support of the member states: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. The current and first ever Patron of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is [[Charles III|King Charles III]].<ref>{{Cite tweet |author=Majesty Magazine|user=MajestyMagazine |number=1723098212603683002 |title=The King becomes Patron of CWGC}}</ref> The current president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is [[Anne, Princess Royal]].<ref>{{Cite tweet |author=Majesty Magazine|user=MajestyMagazine |number=1723098212603683002 |title=The Princess Royal becomes President of CWGC}}</ref>

==History==

===First World War===
[[File:Canadian Corps - Canadian war graves.jpg|thumb|left|Canadian war graves near [[Ypres, Belgium]]. The crosses identify the graves as those of soldiers of the [[14th Battalion, CEF|14th Canadian Battalion]] who were killed over several days in May 1916.|alt=Six graves marked with white crosses located in a muddy field with trees in the background.]]

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, [[Fabian Ware]], a director of the [[Rio Tinto Group|Rio Tinto Company]], found that he was too old, at age 45, to join the British Army.<ref name="Ware">{{cite web |url=http://www.veterans-uk.info/remembrance/ware.html |title=Major General Sir Fabian Ware |access-date=26 May 2008 |publisher=Ministry of Defence Veterans Agency |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228084441/http://www.veterans-uk.info/remembrance/ware.html |archive-date=28 December 2013  }}</ref> He used the influence of Rio Tinto chairman, [[Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner|Viscount Milner]], to become the commander of a mobile unit of the [[British Red Cross]].  He arrived in France in September 1914 and whilst there was struck by the lack of any official mechanism for documenting or marking the location of graves of those who had been killed and felt compelled to create an organisation within the Red Cross for this purpose.{{sfn|Stamp|2007|p=72}} In March 1915, with the support of [[Nevil Macready]], Adjutant-General of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]], Ware's work was given official recognition and support by the Imperial War Office and the unit was transferred to the British Army as the Graves Registration Commission.<ref name="Ware"/>{{sfn|Stamp|2007|p=72}} The new Graves Registration Commission had over 31,000&nbsp;graves of British and Imperial soldiers registered by October 1915 and 50,000 registered by May 1916.{{sfn|van Emden|2011|p=149}}

When municipal graveyards began to overfill Ware began negotiations with various local authorities to acquire land for further cemeteries. Ware began with an agreement with France to build joint British and French cemeteries under the understanding that these would be maintained by the French government.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=13}} Ware eventually concluded that it was not prudent to leave the maintenance responsibilities solely to the French government and subsequently arranged for France to purchase the land (under the [[French law of 29 December 1915|law of 29 December 1915]]), grant it in perpetuity, and leave the management and maintenance responsibilities to the British. The French government agreed under the condition that cemeteries respected certain dimensions,<ref>Graves were to be {{convert|23|to|30|cm|in}} apart with pathways no more than {{convert|90|cm|in}} wide.{{harvnb|Geurst|2010|p=13}}</ref> were accessible by public road, were in the vicinity of medical aid stations and were not too close to towns or villages. Similar negotiations began with the Belgian government.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=13}}

As reports of the grave registration work became public, the commission began to receive letters of enquiry and requests for photographs of graves from relatives of deceased soldiers.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=15}} By 1917, 17,000 photographs had been dispatched to relatives.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=15}}<ref>{{cite web |title=A History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission |url=http://twgpp.org/downloads/About_the_CWGC.pdf |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=14 August 2013  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226125553/http://twgpp.org/downloads/About_the_CWGC.pdf |archive-date=26 February 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> In March 1915, the commission, with the support of the Red Cross, began to dispatch photographic prints and cemetery location information in answer to the requests. The Graves Registration Commission became the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries in the spring of 1916 in recognition of the fact that the scope of work began to extend beyond simple grave registration and began to include responding to enquiries from relatives of those killed. The directorate's work was also extended beyond the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] and into other theatres of war, with units deployed in Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=15}}

===Formal establishment===

[[File:CWGC - Headstone carving.jpg|thumb|upright|Carving of headstones by hand would take a week|alt=a man carving the a maple leaf onto a gravestone, in a workshop, with a hammer and chisel.]]

As the war continued, Ware and others became concerned about the fate of the graves in the post-war period. Following a suggestion by the British Army, the government appointed the National Committee for the Care of Soldiers' Graves in January 1916, with [[Edward VIII|Edward, Prince of Wales]] agreeing to serve as president.{{sfn|Summers|2007|pp=15–16}} The National Committee for the Care of Soldiers' Graves was created with the intention of taking over the work of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries after the war.  The government felt that it was more appropriate to entrust the work to a specially appointed body rather than to any existing government department.<ref name="WO 32/9433">{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/externalrequest.asp?requestreference=WO32/9433 |title=WO 32/9433 – Text of Memorandum put before the Imperial War Conference in April 1917 |work=The Catalogue |publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] |access-date=15 December 2009 |archive-date=7 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307173755/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/externalrequest.asp?requestreference=WO32%2F9433 |url-status=live }}</ref> By early 1917, a number of members of the committee believed a formal imperial organisation would be needed to care for the graves. With the help of Edward, Prince of Wales, Ware submitted a memorandum to the [[Imperial War Conference]] in 1917 suggesting that an imperial organisation be constituted.<ref name="WO 32/9433"/>{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=16}} The suggestion was accepted and on 21 May 1917 the Imperial War Graves Commission was established by Royal Charter, with the Prince of Wales serving as president, [[Secretary of State for War]] [[Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]] as chairman and Ware as vice-chairman.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}}{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=16}} The commission's undertakings began in earnest at the end of the First World War. Once land for cemeteries and memorials had been guaranteed, the enormous task of recording the details of the dead could begin. By 1918, some 587,000 graves had been identified and a further 559,000 casualties were registered as having no known grave.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/history-of-cwgc.aspx |title=History of CWGC |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=14 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130803025303/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/history-of-cwgc.aspx |archive-date=3 August 2013 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

The scale, and associated high number of casualties, of the war produced an entirely new attitude towards the commemoration of war dead. Previous to the First World War, individual commemoration of war dead was often on an ad hoc basis and was almost exclusively limited to commissioned officers.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=182}} However, the war required mobilisation of a significant percentage of the population, either as volunteers or through [[conscription]].{{sfn|Winter|1998|p=80}} An expectation had consequently arisen that individual soldiers would expect to be commemorated, even if they were low-ranking members of the military.{{sfn|Wittman|2011}} A committee under [[Frederic Kenyon]], Director of the [[British Museum]], presented a report to the Commission in November 1918 detailing how it envisioned the development of the cemeteries.<ref name="Kenyon">The document was entitled ''War Graves: How Cemeteries Abroad will be Designed''.{{harvnb|Braybon|2004|p=32}}</ref> Two key elements of this report were that bodies should not be repatriated and that uniform memorials should be used to avoid class distinctions. Beyond the logistical nightmare of returning home so many corpses, it was felt that repatriation would conflict with the feeling of brotherhood that had developed between serving ranks.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=33}}{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=42}}

[[File:The Graves of the Fallen - cover page.jpg|thumb|left|Cover page of ''Graves of the Fallen''|alt=A wire image of a white Cross of Sacrifice on a background of green with the text "Graves of the Fallen" and "Imperial War Graves Commission".]]
An article in ''[[The Times]]'' on 17 February 1919 by [[Rudyard Kipling]] carried the commission's proposal to a wider audience and described what the graves would look like.{{sfn|Scutts|2009|p=387}} The article entitled ''War Graves: Work of Imperial Commission: Mr. Kipling's Survey'' was quickly republished as an illustrated booklet, ''Graves of the Fallen''. The illustrated booklet was intended to soften the impact of Kenyon's report as it included illustrations of cemeteries with mature trees and shrubs; contrasting the bleak landscapes depicted in published battlefield photos.{{sfn|Braybon|2004|p=32}} There was an immediate public outcry following the publication of the reports, particularly with regards to the decision to not repatriate the bodies of the dead. The reports generated considerable discussion in the press which ultimately led to a heated debate in Parliament on 4 May 1920.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/may/04/imperial-war-graves-commission |title=Imperial War Graves Commission HC Deb vol 128 cc1929-72 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=4 May 1920 |access-date=15 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625173055/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1920/may/04/imperial-war-graves-commission |archive-date=25 June 2009 |url-status=live  }}</ref>{{sfn|Braybon|2004|p=32}} Sir [[James Remnant, 1st Baron Remnant|James Remnant]] started the debate, followed by speeches by [[William Burdett-Coutts]] in favour of the commission's principles and [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Robert Cecil]] speaking for those desiring repatriation and opposing uniformity of grave markers. [[Winston Churchill]] closed the debate and asked that the issue not proceed to a vote. Remnant withdrew his motion, allowing the commission to carry out its work assured of support for its principles.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|pp=51–55}}<ref name="A History p3">{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/history/1?e=4065448/5004091 |title=A History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=28 December 2013 |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231002231/http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/history/1?e=4065448%2F5004091 |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref>  The 1920 United States Public Law 66-175 ensured American citizens who were killed while in service of a Commonwealth nation were eligible for burial in national cemeteries in the United States <ref>{{Citation| url   = https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/41/STATUTE-41-Pg552.pdf| title = Pub. L. 66-175 - An AN ACT To amend section 4878 of the Revised Statutes as amended by the Act of March 3 1897. April 15, 1920 552| publisher= uslaw.link | access-date = 18 November 2021| ref = none}}</ref> However, the commission made no repatriation policy exception for American citizens and attempts to retrieve loved ones from Commonwealth cemeteries were not supported by the American [[Graves Registration Service]].{{sfn|Dickon|2014|}}

===First cemeteries and memorials to the missing===

In 1918, three of the most eminent architects of their day, [[Herbert Baker|Sir Herbert Baker]], [[Reginald Blomfield|Sir Reginald Blomfield]], and [[Edwin Lutyens|Sir Edwin Lutyens]] were appointed as the organization's initial Principal Architects. Rudyard Kipling was appointed literary advisor for the language used for memorial inscriptions.{{sfn|Dickon|2011|p=62}}
[[File:Site plan for the Forceville Communal Cemetery Extension.jpg|thumb|upright|The site plan for the Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension|alt=a overhead technical drawing of the site layout which shows approximately 10 rows of burials.]]

In 1920, the Commission built three experimental cemeteries at [[Le Treport]], [[Forceville]] and [[Louvencourt]], following the principles outlined in the Kenyon report.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=58}} Of these, the Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension was agreed to be the most successful.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=34}} Having consulted with garden designer [[Gertrude Jekyll]], the architects created a walled cemetery with uniform headstones in a garden setting, augmented by Blomfield's [[Cross of Sacrifice]] and Lutyens' [[Stone of Remembrance]].{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}} After some adjustments, Forceville became the template for the commission's building programme. Cost overruns at all three experimental cemeteries necessitated some adjustments.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|pp=48–50}} To ensure future cemeteries remained within their budget the Commission decided to not build shelters in cemeteries that contained less than 200&nbsp;graves, to not place a Stone of Remembrance in any cemetery with less than 400&nbsp;graves, and to limit the height of cemetery walls to {{convert|1|m|ft}}.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|pp=48–50}}

At the end of 1919, the commission had spent £7,500, and this figure rose to £250,000 in 1920 as construction of cemeteries and memorials increased. By 1921, the commission had established 1,000&nbsp;cemeteries which were ready for headstone erections, and burials. Between 1920 and 1923, the commission was shipping 4,000&nbsp;headstones a week to France.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=27}} In many cases, the Commission closed small cemeteries and concentrated the graves into larger ones. By 1927, when the majority of construction had been completed, over 500&nbsp;cemeteries had been built, with 400,000&nbsp;headstones, a thousand Crosses of Sacrifice, and 400 Stones of Remembrance.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=125}}

[[File:Ieper Menenpoort R01.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Menin Gate]] at night|alt=A triumphal arch made of red brick and limestone illuminated at night.]]
The commission had also been mandated to individually commemorate each soldier who had no known grave, which amounted to 315,000 in France and Belgium alone. The Commission initially decided to build 12 monuments on which to commemorate the missing; each memorial being located at the site of an important battle along the Western Front.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=56}} After resistance from the French committee responsible for the approvals of memorials on French territory, the Commission revised their plan and reduced the number of memorials, and in some cases built memorials to the missing in existing cemeteries rather than as separate structures.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=57}}

Reginald Blomfield's [[Menin Gate]] was the first memorial to the missing located in Europe to be completed, and was unveiled on 24 July 1927.<ref name="Can encyclopaedia">{{cite encyclopedia| title=Monuments of the First and Second World Wars| first=Jacqueline| last=Hucker| encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]| url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/monuments-of-the-first-and-second-world-wars| access-date=21 November 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810091629/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009128| archive-date=10 August 2011| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Menin Gate (Menenpoort) was found to have insufficient space to contain all the names as originally planned and 34,984 names of the missing were instead inscribed on Herbert Baker's [[Tyne Cot Cemetery|Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing]].{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=22}} Other memorials followed: the [[Helles Memorial]] in [[Gallipoli]] designed by [[John James Burnet]];{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=23}} the [[Thiepval Memorial]] on the [[Somme (department)|Somme]] and the [[Arras Memorial]] designed by Edwin Lutyens;{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=2889}} and the [[Basra Memorial]] in Iraq designed by [[Edward Prioleau Warren]].{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=35}} The Dominions and India also erected memorials on which they commemorated their missing: the [[Neuve-Chapelle Memorial]] for the forces of India, the [[Vimy Memorial]] by Canada, the [[Villers-Bretonneux Memorial]] by Australia, the [[Delville Wood Memorial]] by South Africa and the [[Beaumont-Hamel Memorial]] by Newfoundland.{{sfn|Ware|1937|p=33}} The programme of commemorating the dead of the Great War was considered essentially complete with the inauguration of the Thiepval Memorial in 1932, though the Vimy Memorial would not be finished until 1936, the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial until 1938 and stonemasons were still conducting work on the Menin Gate when Germany invaded Belgium in 1940.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=126}}{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=190}} The only memorial created by the Commission that was not in the form of a monument or cemetery was the Memorial Ophthalmic Laboratory at [[Giza]], [[Egypt]]—complete with library, and bacteriology and pathology departments—as its memorial to men of the [[Egyptian Labour Corps]] and [[Imperial Camel Corps|Camel Transport Corps]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fourcorners.cwgc.org/story/giza-eye-hospital/ |title=Giza Eye Hospital |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=21 November 2021 |archive-date=21 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121100254/https://fourcorners.cwgc.org/story/giza-eye-hospital/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its erection was agreed with local political pressure.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=97}}

===Second World War===
[[File:Kranji War Memorial.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Kranji War Memorial]], a Second World War memorial in [[Singapore]], commemorating 24,306&nbsp;casualties]]

From the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Commission organised grave registration units and, planning ahead based on the experience gained from the First World War, earmarked land for use as cemeteries.<ref name="A History p5">{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/history/1?e=4065448/5004091 |title=A History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=28 December 2013 |page=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231002231/http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/history/1?e=4065448%2F5004091 |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> When the war began turning in favour of the Allies, the commission was able to begin restoring its First World War cemeteries and memorials. It also began the task of commemorating the 600,000 Commonwealth casualties from the Second World War.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} As with the First World War, casualties were commemorated with uniform memorials and bodies should not be repatriated. Exceptionally, the American Graves Registration were permitted to repatriate the remains of an unknown number of American citizens who were in service of a Commonwealth nation during the Second World War.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In 1949, the Commission completed [[Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery]], the first of 559 new cemeteries and 36 new memorials.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/history-of-cwgc/second-world-war.aspx |access-date=26 February 2014 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |title=Second World War |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231020848/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/history-of-cwgc/second-world-war.aspx |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref>{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=60}}<ref>{{cite book |title=How to Read a Graveyard: Journeys in the Company of the Dead |first=Peter |last=Stanford |page=119 |publisher=Bloomsbury |year= 2013 |isbn=978-1-4411-7977-7 }}</ref> Eventually, the Commission erected over 350,000 new headstones, many from [[Hopton Wood stone]].{{sfn|Thomas|2005}} The wider scale of the Second World War, coupled with manpower shortages and unrest in some countries, meant that the construction and restoration programmes took much longer. In [[Albania]] the graves of 52 of the 54 graves of British SOE personnel had been reburied in [[Tirana]] before Major McIntosh from the CWGC Florence base was expelled by the [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|new regime]]. Three-quarters of the original graves had been in "difficult" or remote locations.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bailey |first= Roderick |title= The Wildest Province: SOE in the Land of the Eagle |year= 2008 |publisher= Jonathan Cape |location= London |isbn= 978-0224079167 |pages= 2–6 }}</ref> Following the war, the Commission implemented a five-year horticultural renovation programme which addressed neglect by 1950. Structural repairs, together with the backlog of maintenance tasks from before the war, took a further ten years to complete.{{sfn|Edwards|2008|p=30}}

With the increased number of civilian casualties compared with the First World War, [[Winston Churchill]] agreed to Ware's proposal that the commission also maintain a record of Commonwealth civilian war deaths. A supplemental chapter was added to the Imperial War Graves Commission's charter on 7 February 1941, empowering the organisation to collect and record the names of civilians who died from enemy action during the Second World War, which resulted in the creation of the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour. The roll eventually contained the names of nearly 67,000&nbsp;civilians. The Commission and the [[Dean of Westminster]] reached an agreement that the roll would eventually be placed in [[Westminster Abbey]] but not until the roll was complete and hostilities had ended. The Commission handed over the first six volumes to the Dean of Westminster on 21 February 1956; it added the final volume to the showcase in 1958.<ref name="west abbey">{{cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/civilian-war-dead-roll-of-honour-1939---1945 |title=Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939–1945 – Westminster Abbey |publisher=The Dean and Chapter of Westminster |access-date=28 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233706/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/civilian-war-dead-roll-of-honour-1939---1945 |archive-date=30 December 2013 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

===Post–Second World War===
[[File:Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Milit.Cem.11-2.JPG|thumb|left|[[Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery]], the most recently dedicated cemetery.|alt=A cemetery of couple hundred white headstones with a terrain of well-manicured grass with plants between each headstone. The cemetery is surrounded by a waist-high red brick wall.]]
Following the Second World War, the Commission recognised that the word 'Imperial' within its name was no longer appropriate. In the spirit of strengthening national and regional feelings the organization changed its name to Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1960.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=50}}

More recent conflicts have sometimes made it impossible for the commission to care for cemeteries in a given region or resulted in the destruction of sites altogether. Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery in Germany was unkempt after the end of the Second World War and until the [[German reunification]] because it was located in an area occupied by Russian forces and was not entirely rebuilt until 2005.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=45}} The [[Six-Day War]] and [[War of Attrition]] resulted in the destruction of [[Port Tewfik Memorial]] and Aden Memorial, and the death of a Commission gardener at Suez War Memorial Cemetery.<ref name=Heliopolis>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/143800 |title=Heliopolis (Port Tewfik) Memorial |access-date=31 October 2007 |author=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131081049/https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/143800 |archive-date=31 January 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref> During the [[Lebanese Civil War]] two cemeteries in Beirut were destroyed and had to be rebuilt.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=45}} The maintenance of war graves and memorials in Iraq has remained difficult since [[Iran–Iraq War]] in the 1980s, with regular maintenance being impractical since after the [[Gulf War]].<ref name=Freeman>{{cite news |title=Iraq cemetery containing graves of British servicemen is destroyed |last=Freeman |first=Colin |date=10 November 2013 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=5 April 2014 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10438147/Iraq-cemetery-containing-graves-of-British-servicemen-is-destroyed.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226035525/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10438147/Iraq-cemetery-containing-graves-of-British-servicemen-is-destroyed.html |archive-date=26 February 2014 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Commission in Iraq |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=5 April 2014 |type=PDF |url=http://www.cwgc.org/media/45212/cwgc_in_iraq.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407065419/http://www.cwgc.org/media/45212/cwgc_in_iraq.pdf |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

The commission also provides support for war graves outside its traditional mandate. In 1982, the British Ministry of Defence requested the commission's assistance to design and construct cemeteries in the [[Falkland Islands]] for those killed during the [[Falklands War]].{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=51}} Although these cemeteries are not Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, the Commission manages the administrative responsibilities for them.<ref name=Falkland>{{cite web |title=March 2012 Newsletter: Commonwealth War Graves Commission in The Falkland Islands |url=http://www.cwgc.org/March%202012%20Falkland%20Islands.pdf |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |date=n.d. |access-date=5 April 2014 |type=PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070255/http://www.cwgc.org/March%202012%20Falkland%20Islands.pdf |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Since 2005, the commission has carried out similar management duties on behalf of the British Ministry of Defence for cemeteries and graves of British and Imperial soldiers who died during the [[Second Boer War]].<ref name="boer">{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/media/20095/january_2011.pdf |title=January 2011 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |date=January 2011 |access-date=14 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903152730/http://www.cwgc.org/media/20095/january_2011.pdf |archive-date=3 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> In 2003, [[Veterans Affairs Canada]] employed the commission to develop an approach to locate grave markers for which the Canadian Minister of Veterans Affairs has responsibility. As of 2011, the commission conducts a twelve-year cyclical inspection programme of Canadian veterans' markers installed at the expense of the [[Government of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |title=CWGC – Contract Service |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Canada) |url=http://www.cwgc-canadianagency.ca/s7/contract-services-eng.php |access-date=5 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219114601/http://www.cwgc-canadianagency.ca/s7/contract-services-eng.php |archive-date=19 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2008, an exploratory excavation discovered [[mass grave]]s on the edge of Pheasant Wood outside of [[Fromelles]]. Two-hundred and fifty British and Australian bodies were excavated from five mass graves which were interred in the newly constructed [[Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery]]. This was the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in more than 50 years, the last such cemeteries having been built after the Second World War.<ref>{{cite news |title=WWI war dead reburied in special service |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8488863.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=30 January 2010 |access-date=5 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407102723/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8488863.stm |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Putting names to the lost soldiers of Fromelles |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8473444.stm |work=BBC News |date=29 January 2010 |first=Peter |last=Jackson |access-date=5 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407103251/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8473444.stm |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

==Burial sites and memorials==
{{See also|List of total Commonwealth War Graves Commission burials by country|List of Commonwealth War Graves Commission World War I memorials to the missing|List of Commonwealth War Graves Commission World War I memorials to the missing in Belgium and France|Memorial tablets to the British Empire dead of the First World War|List of Commonwealth War Graves Commission World War II memorials to the missing}}
[[File:Commonwealth War Graves Commission Service Van at Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.jpg|thumb|A service van used by the commission at the Woodlands Cemetery in [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]], [[Kent]], England ]]
The commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.7&nbsp;million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 153&nbsp;countries and approximately 67,000&nbsp;civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}}<ref name="fast facts"/>{{sfn|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2013|p=2}} Commonwealth military service members are commemorated by name on either a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. As a result, the commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over 23,000 separate burial sites and maintenance of more than 200&nbsp;memorials worldwide.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=63}} The vast majority of burial sites are pre-existing communal or municipal cemeteries and parish churchyards located in the United Kingdom, however the commission has itself constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries worldwide.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}}<ref name="CWGC2008">{{cite book |title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2007–2008 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |pages=48–52}}</ref> The commission has also constructed or commissioned memorials to commemorate the dead who have no known grave; the largest of these is the [[Thiepval Memorial]].{{sfn|Stamp|2007|page=153}}

===Qualifications for inclusion===
The Commission only commemorates those who have died during the designated war years, while in Commonwealth military service or of causes attributable to service. Death in service included not only those killed in combat but other causes such as those that died in training accidents, air raids and due to disease such as the [[1918 flu pandemic]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://discover.cwgc.org/discover/homefront.aspx |title=UK Home Front |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=8 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501235229/http://discover.cwgc.org/discover/homefront.aspx |archive-date=1 May 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The applicable periods of consideration are 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921 for the First World War and 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947 for the Second World War.<ref name="fast facts"/> The end date for the First World War period is the official end of the war, while for the Second World War the Commission selected a date approximately the same period after [[VE Day]] as the official end of the First World War was after the 1918 Armistice.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|page=64}}

Civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War are commemorated differently from those that died as a result of military service. They are commemorated by name through the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour located in St George's Chapel in Westminster Abbey. In addition to its mandated duties, the commission maintains, under arrangement with applicable governments, over 40,000 non-Commonwealth war graves and over 25,000 non-war military and civilian graves.{{sfn|Peaslee|1974|p=300}}<ref name="fast facts"/>

===Architects and sculptors===
[[File:Herbert Baker00.jpg|thumb|left|Herbert Baker, one of the original Principal Architects of the Commission|alt=A black and white portrait of an older gentleman  with a receding hairline wearing a suit and tie.]]
As well as the main Principal Architects for France and Belgium (Baker, Blomfield and Lutyens), there were Principal Architects appointed for other regions as well. Sir [[Robert Lorimer]] was Principal Architect for Italy, Macedonia and Egypt, while Sir John James Burnet was Principal Architect for Palestine and Gallipoli, assisted by [[Thomas Smith Tait]]. The Principal Architect for Mesopotamia was Edward Prioleau Warren.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=20}}

As well as these senior architects, there was a team of Assistant Architects who were actually responsible for many of the cemetery and memorial designs. These architects were younger, and many of them had served in the war. The Assistant Architects were: George Esselmont Gordon Leith, [[Wilfred Clement Von Berg]], [[Charles Henry Holden]] (who in 1920 became a Principal Architect), [[William Harrison Cowlishaw]], [[William Bryce Binnie]], George Hartley Goldsmith, Frank Higginson, Arthur James Scott Hutton, Noel Ackroyd Rew, and John Reginald Truelove.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=20}}{{sfn|Stamp|2007|pp=90–91}} Other architects that worked for the commission, or won competitions for the Commission memorials, included George Salway Nicol,<ref>{{cite book |title=Who's Who in Art |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinart15dolm |url-access=registration |year=1927 |editor=Bernard Dolman |publisher=Art Trade Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinart15dolm/page/170 170]}}</ref> [[Harold Chalton Bradshaw]], Verner Owen Rees, Gordon H. Holt, and Henry Philip Cart de Lafontaine.{{sfn|Stamp|Harris|1977|pp=20–27}}

In January 1944, [[Edward Maufe]] was appointed Principal Architect for the UK.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=179}} Maufe worked extensively for the commission for 25 years until 1969, becoming Chief Architect and also succeeding Kenyon as Artistic Advisor.<ref name="odnb">Richardson, Margaret. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31429 ''Maufe, Edward'' ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719171347/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31429;jsessionid=5375B4ACD13CBFF792AF101FF7B2E3FA |date=19 July 2021 }}, Oxford University Press, accessed 25 September 2013 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=207}} Together with Maufe, the other Principal Architects appointed during and after the Second World War were [[Hubert Worthington]], [[Louis de Soissons]], [[Philip Hepworth]] and [[Colin St Clair Oakes]].{{sfn|Longworth|2003|pp=179–180}}

Leading sculptors that worked on the memorials and cemeteries after the First World War included [[Eric Henri Kennington]], [[Charles Thomas Wheeler]], [[Gilbert Ledward]], and [[Charles Sargeant Jagger]].{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=130}} Other sculptors, both in the inter-war period and after the Second World War, included [[William Reid Dick]],<ref name=Ypres>{{cite web |title=Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/91800/YPRES%20%28MENIN%20GATE%29%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928142259/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/91800/YPRES%20%28MENIN%20GATE%29%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Ernest Gillick]],<ref name=Artois>{{cite web |title=Vis-en-Artois Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79200/VIS-EN-ARTOIS%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928142304/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79200/VIS-EN-ARTOIS%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Basil Gotto]],<ref name=Beaumont>{{cite web |title=Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79000/Beaumont-Hamel%20%28Newfoundland%29%20Memorial |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928142347/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79000/Beaumont-Hamel%20%28Newfoundland%29%20Memorial |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Alfred Turner (sculptor)|Alfred Turner]],<ref>'Alfred Turner RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1215528314, accessed 26 Sep 2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427101918/http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1215528314, |date=27 April 2015 }}</ref> [[Laurence A. Turner]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Pozieres Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/87600/POZIERES%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924232856/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/87600/POZIERES%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=24 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Walter Gilbert (sculptor)|Walter Gilbert]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Doiran Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/160000/DOIRAN%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207195150/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/160000/DOIRAN%2520MEMORIAL |archive-date=7 December 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Henry Poole (sculptor)|Henry Poole]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Plymouth Naval Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/142001/PLYMOUTH%20NAVAL%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917225151/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/142001/PLYMOUTH%20NAVAL%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=17 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Vernon Hill (sculptor)|Vernon Hill]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Runnymede Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/109600/RUNNYMEDE%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928060543/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/109600/RUNNYMEDE%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=28 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Robert Anning Bell]],<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |title=Jerusalem Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/142016/JERUSALEM%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926002715/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/142016/JERUSALEM%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=26 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Ferdinand Victor Blundstone]],<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |title=Tyne Cot Memorial |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/85900/TYNE%20COT%20MEMORIAL |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917233026/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/85900/TYNE%20COT%20MEMORIAL |archive-date=17 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Joseph Armitage,<ref name="autogenerated2"/> and [[Gilbert Bayes]].<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

===Cemetery design===

====Common architectural design features====
[[File:Cross of Sacrifice, Ypres Reservoir cemetery.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The [[Cross of Sacrifice]].|alt=a stone cross with a metal longsword in the middle on an octagonal stone base. ]]
Structural design has always played an important part in the commission's cemeteries. Apart from a few exceptions, due to local geological conditions, the cemeteries follow the same design and uniform aesthetic all over the world.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=188}} This makes the cemeteries easily recognizable and distinguishes them from war graves administered by other groups or countries.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=188}}{{sfn|Stamp|2007|p=82}}

A typical cemetery is surrounded by a low wall or hedge and with a wrought-iron gate entrance.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=147}}<ref name="design">{{cite web |title=Our Cemetery design and features |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |access-date=16 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930083547/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |archive-date=30 September 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> For cemeteries in France and Belgium, a land tablet near the entrance or along a wall identifies the cemetery grounds as having been provided by the French or Belgian governments. All but the smallest cemeteries contain a register with an inventory of the burials, a plan of the plots and rows, and a basic history of the cemetery. The register is located within a metal cupboard that is marked with a cross located in either the wall near the cemetery entrance or in a shelter within the cemetery. More recently, in larger sites, a stainless steel notice gives details of the respective military campaign.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=158}}<ref name="design"/> The headstones within the cemetery are of a uniform size and design and mark plots of equal size.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=187}}

The cemetery grounds are, except in drier climates, grass-covered with a floral border around the headstones. There is also an absence of any paving between the headstone rows which is intended to make the cemetery feel like a traditional walled garden where visitors could experience a sense of peace.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=67}} However, Carter and Jackson argue that the uniform aesthetics are designed to evoke a positive experience which deliberately masks and sanitises the nature of the war deaths.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=190}}

====Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance====
{{Main|Cross of Sacrifice|Stone of Remembrance}}

[[File:Britfriedhof04.jpg|thumb|left|The Stone of Remembrance, a feature of larger cemeteries|alt=A rectangular stone on a multi-stepped stone platform. the words "Their name liveth for evermore" inscribed on the longer side of the stone.]]

Typically, cemeteries of more than 40 graves contain a [[Cross of Sacrifice]] designed by architect [[Reginald Blomfield]]. This cross was designed to imitate medieval crosses found in churchyards in England with proportions more commonly seen in the [[Celtic cross]]. The cross is normally a freestanding four-point [[limestone]] [[Latin cross]], mounted on an octagonal base, and ranging in height from {{convert|14|to|32|ft}}. A [[bronze]] [[longsword]], blade down, is embedded on the face of the cross. This cross represents the faith of the majority of the dead and the sword represents the military character of the cemetery, intended to link British soldiers and the Christian concept of self-sacrifice.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=46}}<ref name="features">{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |title=Features of Commonwealth War Cemeteries |format=Word document |access-date=23 May 2009 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218041859/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |archive-date=18 February 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Cemeteries with more than 1000 burials typically have a [[Stone of Remembrance]], designed by [[Edwin Lutyens]] with the inscription ''"[[Their name liveth for evermore]]"''. The concept of the Stone of Remembrance stone was developed by [[Rudyard Kipling]] to commemorate those of all faiths and none respectively.{{sfn|Edwards|2008|p=31}}{{sfn|Stamp|Harris|1977|p=13}} In contrast to the Cross of Sacrifice, the design for the stone deliberately avoided "shapes associated with particular religions". The geometry of the structure was based on studies of the [[Parthenon]].<ref name="CWGC Architecture">{{cite web |title=CWGC – Our Cemetery design and features |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=1 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218041859/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/architecture/our-cemetery-design-and-features.aspx |archive-date=18 February 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Each stone is {{convert|12|ft|m|round=0.5}} long and {{convert|5|ft|m}} high.<ref name="OAWG"/> The shape of the stone has been compared both to that of a [[sarcophagus]]<ref name="OAWG">{{cite web |url=http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/OAWG/remembering_war_dead/Pages/stone%20remembrance.aspx |title=Stone of Remembrance |publisher=Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs |access-date=1 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618154405/http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/OAWG/remembering_war_dead/Pages/stone%20remembrance.aspx |archive-date=18 June 2013  }}</ref> and an [[altar]].{{sfn|Stamp|Harris|1977|p=13}} The feature was designed using the principle of [[entasis]].<ref name="BA2009">{{cite journal |url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba109/feat4.shtml |title=Remembering the Great War with Lutyens |first=Tim |last=Skelton |journal=British Archaeology |issue=109 |date=Nov–Dec 2009 |publisher=Council for British Archaeology |access-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719172143/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba109/feat4.shtml |archive-date=19 July 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The subtle curves in the design, if extended, would form a sphere {{Convert|1801|ft|8|in}} in diameter.{{sfn|Stamp|2007|p=79}}

====Headstones====
{{multiple image
| footer   =
| align    = right
| image2   = John Simpson Kirkpatrick headstone.jpg
| alt2     =
| width2   = 158
| caption2 = A stone-faced pedestal marker used in the Gallipoli Peninsula due to ground conditions
| image1   = Ronald Poulton-Palmer grave.jpg
| alt1     =
| width1   = 100
| caption1 = A standard headstone made of Portland stone
}}

Every grave is marked with a [[headstone]].{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=34}} Each headstone contains the national emblem or regimental badge, rank, name, unit, date of death and age of each casualty inscribed above an appropriate religious symbol and a more personal dedication chosen by relatives.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=98}} The headstones use a standard [[upper case]] lettering, Headstone Standard Alphabet, designed by [[MacDonald Gill]].{{sfn|Stamp|2007|p=85}} Individual graves are arranged, where possible, in straight rows and marked by uniform headstones, the vast majority of which are made of [[Portland stone]]. The original headstone dimensions were {{Convert|30|in|cm}} tall, {{Convert|15|in|cm|abbr=on}} wide, and {{Convert|3|in|cm|abbr=on}} thick.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=96}}

Most headstones are inscribed with a cross, except for those deceased known to be atheist or non-Christian. In the case of burials of [[Victoria Cross]] or [[George Cross]] recipients, the regimental badge is supplemented by the Victoria Cross or George Cross emblem. Sometimes a soldier employed a pseudonym because he was too young to serve or was sought by law enforcement; in such cases his primary name is shown along with the notation "''served as"''.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=98}} Some American citizens who served with Commonwealth forces during the Second World War have the notation ''"Of U.S.A."''.<ref>"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-zDTZWOebA Lost, Unknown, Misidentified or Alone]" - You Tube, @ 7:00 and 12:00</ref> Those whose exact burial location within a cemetery is not known will contain the superscript "''Buried elsewhere in this Cemetery''", ''"Known to be buried in this cemetery"'' or ''"Believed to be buried in this cemetery"''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/about-our-records/documents-faqs/ |title=Frequently Asked Questions about our documents |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> Many headstones are for unidentified casualties; they consequently bear only what could be discovered from the body. The epitaph, developed by [[Rudyard Kipling]], that appears on the graves of unidentified soldiers for which no details are known is "A Soldier of the Great War [[known unto God]]".{{sfn|Stamp|Harris|1977|p=13}} In some cases soldiers were buried in collective graves and distinguishing one body from another was not possible and thus one headstone covers more than one grave.{{sfn|Geurst|2010|p=99}} The headstone does not denote any specific details of the death except for its date, and even then only if it is known, and are deliberately ambiguous about the cause of death.{{sfn|Carter|Jackson|2000|p=190}}
Due to local conditions it was sometimes necessary for the commission to deviate from its standard design. In places prone to extreme weather or earthquakes, such as Thailand and Turkey, stone-faced pedestal markers are used instead of the normal headstones.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=28}} These measures are intended to prevent masonry being damaged during earthquakes or sinking into sodden ground.<ref name="gallipoli1">{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/Features |title=Features of Commonwealth War Cemeteries |format=Word document |access-date=23 May 2009 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012092120/http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/Features%20of%20Commonwealth%20War%20Cemeteries.doc |archive-date=12 October 2007}}</ref> In Italy, headstones were carved from Chiampo Perla limestone because it was in more plentiful supply.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=28}} In Struma Military Cemetery, in Greece, to avoid risk of earthquake damage, small headstones are laid flush to the ground.<ref name=Kilner>{{cite web| url=http://www.cwgc.org/education/life_death_pop/ussher/rem.htm| title=Charles Usher Kilner| work=Commonwealth War Graves Commission| access-date=23 May 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616101559/http://www.cwgc.org/education/life_death_pop/ussher/rem.htm| archive-date=16 June 2011| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref> Due to their smaller size, the markers often lack unit insignia.<ref name="gallipoli2">{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/gallipoli/1?e=4065448/5771503 |title=The Gallipoli Campaign, 1915 |access-date=28 December 2013 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001649/http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/gallipoli/1?e=4065448%2F5771503 |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

====Horticulture====
{{multiple image
| footer            = 
| align             = left
| image1            = Roses growing in front of graves, Menin Road South Military cemetery 977687052.jpg
| alt1              = 
| width1            = 113
| caption1          = Roses around headstones in Belgium
| image2            = El Alamein Commonwealth Cemetery 6.JPG
| alt2              = 
| width2            = 100
| caption2          = Dry landscaping in Egypt
| image3            = Kanchanaburi War Cemetery P1100779.JPG
| width3            = 113
| caption3          = Tropical landscaping in Thailand
}}

Commission cemeteries are distinctive in treating [[floriculture]] as an integral part of the cemetery design. Originally, the horticultural concept was to create an environment where visitors could experience a sense of peace in a setting, in contrast to traditionally bleak graveyards.  Recommendations given by [[Arthur William Hill]], the assistant director of the [[Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew]] enabled the commission to develop cemetery layouts and architectural structures that took into account the placement of suitable plant life.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|p=21}} Combining structural and horticultural elements were not unfamiliar to the commission's architects. Sir Edwin Lutyens furthered his long-standing working relationship with horticulturist [[Gertrude Jekyll]], whose devotion to traditional cottage garden plants and roses greatly influenced the appearance of the cemeteries.  Where possible, indigenous plants were utilised to enhance sentimental associations with the gardens of home.<ref name="Horticulture">{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/horticulture.aspx |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |title=Our Horticulture |access-date=30 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131033644/http://www.cwgc.org/about-us/what-we-do/horticulture.aspx |archive-date=31 January 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Variety in texture, height and timing of floral display were equally important horticultural considerations. The beds around each headstone are planted with a mixture of [[floribunda rose]]s and [[herbaceous perennial]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission Information sheet: The Commission's Horticulture |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |page=2}}</ref> Low-growing plants are chosen for areas immediately in front of headstones, ensuring that inscriptions are not obscured and preventing soil from splashing back during rain. In cemeteries where there are pedestal grave markers, dwarf varieties of plants are used instead.<ref name="Horticulture" />

The absence of any form of paving between the headstone rows contributes to the simplicity of the cemetery designs. Lawn paths add to the garden ambience and are irrigated during the dry season in countries where there is insufficient rain. Where irrigation is inappropriate or impractical, dry landscaping is an ecological alternative favored by the commission's horticulturists, as is the case in Iraq. Drier areas require a different approach not only for lawns but also to plants and styles of planting. Similarly, there are separate horticultural considerations in tropical climates. When many cemeteries are concentrated within a limited area, like along the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] or [[Gallipoli peninsula]], mobile teams of gardeners operate from a local base. Elsewhere, larger cemeteries have their own dedicated staff while small cemeteries are usually tended by a single gardener working part-time.{{sfn|Longworth|2003|pp=232–233}}

==Organization==
[[File:Headquarters of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.jpg|thumb|Headquarters of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in [[Maidenhead]], [[Berkshire]], UK|alt=a six-storey building with a dark-brown brick veneer.]]

===Commissioners===
The affairs of the CWGC are overseen by a board of commissioners.  The president of the board is {{abbr|HRH|Her Royal Highness}} [[Anne, Princess Royal]], the chairman is the United Kingdom's [[secretary of State for Defence]], [[John Healey|John Healey MP]], and the vice chairman is [[Peter Hudson (Royal Navy officer)|Vice Admiral Peter Hudson CB CBE]].<ref name="Commissioners">{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/who-we-are/our-commissioners/ |title=Our Commissioners |website=www.cwgc.org |language=en |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |accessdate=2024-03-21}}</ref> [[Claire Horton]] was appointed Director-General of the CWGC in 2020<ref>{{Cite web|title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission appoints Claire Horton CBE as Director General {{!}} CWGC|url=https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/commonwealth-war-graves-commission-appoints-claire-horton-cbe-as-director-general/|access-date=2021-04-20|website=www.cwgc.org|language=en|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420153716/https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/commonwealth-war-graves-commission-appoints-claire-horton-cbe-as-director-general/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The members are: the High Commissioner for New Zealand to the United Kingdom, [[Phil Goff]]; the High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom, [[Stephen Smith (Australian politician)|Stephen Smith]]; the High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to the United Kingdom, Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo; the High Commissioner for India to the United Kingdom, [[Vikram Doraiswami]]; the High Commissioner for Canada to the United Kingdom, [[Ralph Goodale|Ralph E. Goodale]]; Keryn James; Sir [[Tim Hitchens]]; [[Peter Hudson (Royal Navy officer)|Vice Admiral Peter Hudson]]; Hon [[Philip Dunne (Ludlow MP)|Philip Dunne]]; Dame [[Diana Johnson]]; Vasuki Shastry; Dame [[Judith Mayhew Jonas]]; Lieutenant General Sir [[Ben Bathurst]]; Air Marshal Sir [[Stuart Atha]].<ref name="Commissioners"/>

===Functional structure===

The CWGC is headquartered in [[Maidenhead]], England. Offices or agencies that are each responsible for a specific geographical area manage the worldwide affairs of the organisation. They are:{{sfn|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2013|pp=44–45}}

# '''''United Kingdom and Northern Area''' - UKNA:'' responsible for [[United Kingdom]], [[Ireland]], [[Iceland]], [[Faroe Islands]], [[Sweden]], [[Norway]], [[Denmark]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Estonia]], [[Russia]] (West) / [[Ukraine]]
#''Central and Southern Europe Area - C&SEA:'' responsible for [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Poland]], [[Austria]], [[Albania]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Croatia]], [[Cyprus]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Hungary]], [[Italy]], [[Malta]], [[North Macedonia|North Macedonia Republic]], [[Romania]], [[San Marino]], [[Serbia]], [[Greece]] 
#'''''France Area''' - FA:'' responsible for [[France]], [[Switzerland]], [[Monaco]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]], [[Azores]], [[Madeira]]
#'''''Canada, Americas and Pacific Area''' - CAPA:'' responsible for [[Canada]], [[United States]], [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Argentina]], [[The Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Belize]], [[Bermuda]], [[Brazil]], [[Chile]], [[Costa Rica]], [[Cuba]], [[Dominica]], [[Falkland Islands]], [[Grenada]], [[Guatemala]], [[Guyana]], [[Honduras]], [[Jamaica]], [[Martinique]], [[Netherlands Antilles]], [[Panama]], [[Peru]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Kitts]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Saint Vincent]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Uruguay]], [[Venezuela]], [[Virgin Islands]], British China (including [[Hong Kong]]), [[Fiji]], [[Japan]], [[Philippines]], Russia [[Vladivostok]], [[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Myanmar]], [[Singapore]], [[Thailand]]
#'''''Africa and Asia Area''' - AAA:'' responsible for [[Armenia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Botswana]], [[British Indian Ocean Territories]], [[Cameroon]], [[Cape Verde]], [[Chad]], [[Congo Free State|Congo]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo (Democratic Republic)]], [[Ivory Coast|Côte d'Ivoire]], [[Djibouti]], [[Equatorial Guinea]], [[Eritrea]], [[Eswatini|Swasiland]] (Eswatini), [[Ethiopia]], [[The Gambia|Gambia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Ghana]], [[Guinea]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Iraq]], [[Kenya]], [[Lesotho]], [[Liberia]], [[Madagascar]], [[Malawi]], [[Maldives]], [[Mali]], [[Mauritius]], [[Mozambique]], [[Namibia]], [[Nepal]], [[Nigeria]], [[Pakistan]], [[Senegal]], [[Seychelles]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[Somalia]] (including [[Somaliland]]), [[South Africa]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Saint Helena|St Helena]] and [[Ascension Island|Ascension]], [[Tanzania]], [[Togo]], [[Uganda]], [[Zambia]], [[Zimbabwe]], [[Algeria]], [[Egypt]], [[Libya]], [[Mauritania]], [[Morocco]], [[Sudan]], [[Tunisia]], [[Yemen]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Israel]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Jordan]], [[Lebanon]], [[Oman]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Syria]], [[United Arab Emirates]], [[Turkey]], [[Bahrain]]

===Financing===
The CWGC's work is funded predominantly by grants from the governments of the six member states. In the [[fiscal year]] 2020/21, these grants amounted to £66.1&nbsp;million of the organization's £74.5&nbsp;million of income.{{sfn|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2021|p=39-40}} This equates to an approximate cost of {{currency|85|CAD}} per commemorated war dead.<ref name=BHall>{{cite web |title=Mr. Bradley Hall (Secretary-General, Canadian Agency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) at the Veterans Affairs Committee |url=https://openparliament.ca/committees/veterans-affairs/41-1/9/bradley-hall-1/only/ |publisher=Open North |date=3 November 2011 |access-date=15 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002025642/http://openparliament.ca/committees/veterans-affairs/41-1/9/bradley-hall-1/only/ |archive-date=2 October 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The contribution from each country is proportionate to the number of graves the CWGC maintains on behalf of that country. The percentage of total annual contributions for which each country is responsible is United Kingdom {{Percentage|79|100|1}}, Canada {{Percentage|10|100|1}}, Australia {{Percentage|6|100|1}}, New Zealand {{Percentage|2|100|1}}, South Africa {{Percentage|2|100|1}} and India {{Percentage|1|100|1}}.{{sfn|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2021|p=39-40}}

==Ongoing projects and issues==

===Reburials and identifications===
[[File:Pallbearers carry the coffin to the grave.jpg|thumb|Reburial of a New Zealand soldier in February 2012|alt=four men dressed entirely in black are carrying a wood casket draped in a flag.]]
Immediately following the First World War, the British Army remained responsible for the exhumation of remains. The Western Front was divided into sectors and combed for bodies by 12-man exhumation units. Between the Armistice and September 1921, the exhumation units reburied 204,695 bodies. After 1921, no further comprehensive search for bodies was undertaken, and in February 1921 responsibility for the cemeteries was transferred to the Commission. Nevertheless, despite the rigour of the searches, bodies continued to be discovered in large numbers. In the three years following the conclusion of the general search 38,000&nbsp;bodies were discovered. In the mid-1920s, 20 to 30&nbsp;bodies were being discovered weekly.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=29}}{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=30}}

[[File:NewBwood-wyrdlight-2015.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|The dedication of the Brookwood 1914–1918 Memorial|alt=two people standing in from a memorial that is three pillars on a circular black stone base.]]
The discovery of remains of First and Second World War casualties remains a common occurrence, with approximately 30 bodies discovered annually.{{sfn|Summers|2007|p=30}} For example, in 2006 eight bodies of Canadian soldiers from the [[78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers), CEF]] were discovered in a backyard in [[Hallu]], France.<ref name=Shwartz>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/4-ww-i-canadian-soldiers-remains-identified-1.2779824 |first=Daniel |last=Shwartz |work=[[CBC News]] |date=27 September 2014 |title=4 WW I Canadian soldiers' remains identified |access-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120163317/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/4-ww-i-canadian-soldiers-remains-identified-1.2779824 |archive-date=20 November 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref>{{refn|Of the eight bodies five have been identified. They are Lieutenant Clifford Neelands of [[Barrie, Ontario]], Private Lachlan McKinnon, an immigrant from [[Scotland]], Private William Simms of [[Russell, Manitoba]], Sergeant John Oscar Lindell of [[Sweden]] who immigrated to [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], and Private Sidney Halliday of [[Minto, Manitoba]]}} In April 2013, the remains of four British soldiers discovered by a French farmer clearing land with a metal detector in 2009 were re-interred at H.A.C. Cemetery near [[Arras]], France.<ref name=Allen>{{cite web |url=http://www.capitalbay.com/latest-news1/333828-british-soldiers-private-christopher-douglas-elphick-and-lieutenant-john-harold-pritchard-buried-in-france-96-years-after-killed-in-action-in-wwi.html |title=Douglas Elphick and Lieutenant John Harold Pritchard buried in France 96 years after killed in action in WWI |date=22 April 2013 |access-date=5 April 2014 |publisher=Capital Bay |first1=Peter |last1=Allen |first2=Harriet |last2=Arkell |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407092339/http://www.capitalbay.com/latest-news1/333828-british-soldiers-private-christopher-douglas-elphick-and-lieutenant-john-harold-pritchard-buried-in-france-96-years-after-killed-in-action-in-wwi.html |archive-date=7 April 2014  }}</ref> In March 2014, the remains of 20&nbsp;Commonwealth and 30&nbsp;German soldiers were discovered in [[Vendin-le-Vieil]], France, with the Commonwealth soldiers being subsequently reburied at Loos British Cemetery.<ref name=Loos>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2014/3/reinterment-at-loos.aspx |title=Re-burial at Loos |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |date=14 March 2014 |access-date=5 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070626/http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2014/3/reinterment-at-loos.aspx |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name=100years>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/14/first-world-war-soldiers-buried-100-years |title=First world war soldiers buried with full military honours after 100 years |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=14 March 2014 |access-date=5 April 2014 |agency=[[Press Association]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317033924/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/14/first-world-war-soldiers-buried-100-years |archive-date=17 March 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> When the remains of a Commonwealth soldier from the First or Second World War is discovered the Commission is notified, and a Commission burial officer tries to collect any associated artefacts that may help identify the individual. The details are then registered and archived at the Commission's headquarters. Evidence used for identification purposes may include artifacts found with the remains, anthropological data and DNA.{{sfn|Signoli|de Verines|2011|p=712}}

Investigation of archival records by members of the public periodically results in the identification of previously buried casualties. The archival records of the commission are open to the public to permit individuals to conduct their own research.{{sfn|Signoli|de Verines|2011|p=712}} In December 2013, it was discovered that Second Lieutenant Philip Frederick Cormack, who was previously commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, had in fact been buried in a French military cemetery in [[Machelen (Zulte)|Machelen]], [[East Flanders]] in Belgium.<ref name=Cormack>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2013/12/second-lieutenant-p-f-cormack-gets-a-known-grave.aspx |title=CWGC Headstone for Second Lieutenant P. F. Cormack's Grave |date=10 December 2013 |access-date=5 April 2014 |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407065414/http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2013/12/second-lieutenant-p-f-cormack-gets-a-known-grave.aspx |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Sergeant Leonard Maidment was identified in 2013 after a visitor to Marfaux British Cemetery discovered a headstone of an unknown sergeant with the [[Hampshire Regiment]] killed on 20 July 1918, and was subsequently able to show that only one sergeant from that regiment had been killed in France on that date.<ref name=Tattersfield>{{cite web |url=http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/brothers-arms/3208-leonard-maidment-a-casualty-of-marfaux.html |title=The life of First World War British Sergeant Leonard Maidment |first=David |last=Tattersfield |publisher=Western Front Association |date=30 July 2013 |access-date=5 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407015759/http://westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/brothers-arms/3208-leonard-maidment-a-casualty-of-marfaux.html |archive-date=7 April 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> As of July 2022, the In From The Cold Project has so far identified 7,255 individuals with either unmarked graves or names missing from the Roll of Honour maintained at Westminster Abbey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Casualties In From The Cold.|url= https://www.infromthecold.org/casualties.asp|website=[[In From The Cold Project]]|access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> The majority of the casualties commemorated on the Brookwood 1914–1918 Memorial are servicemen and women identified by the In From The Cold Project as having died while in care of their families and were not commemorated by the Commission at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/brookwood-memorial-updated-77-new-12023022 |title=Brookwood memorial updated with 77 new names of fallen World War One soldiers |first=Eleanor |last=Davis |date=15 October 2016 |access-date=7 January 2018 |publisher=Trinity Mirror Southern |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108064159/http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/brookwood-memorial-updated-77-new-12023022 |archive-date=8 January 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4007318/brookwood-1914-1918-memorial/ |title=Brookwood 1914–1918 Memorial |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=8 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209044000/https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4007318/brookwood-1914-1918-memorial/ |archive-date=9 December 2017 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

===Vandalism===
[[File:Basra 2.jpg|thumb|Neglect and vandalism in the [[Basra Memorial]] in Iraq in July 2024, the CWGC has no plans to renovate the memorial site]]
Cemeteries, including those of war dead, are targets for vandalism. The gravestones, cemeteries and buildings of the Commission are no exception.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=99}} The Commission believes that graffiti and damage to stonework are usually the work of young people, noting that the number of incidents increases when schoolchildren are on school holidays.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/education/who_cares.htm |title=Who Cares |publisher=CWGC |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119065100/http://www.cwgc.org/education/who_cares.htm |archive-date=19 January 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Metal theft]] is also a problem: determined thieves target the bronze swords from the Cross of Sacrifice, which are now replaced with replicas made of fibreglass.{{sfn|Gibson|Ward|1989|p=100}}

The vandalism of Commission cemeteries has also been connected to the participation of Commonwealth countries in contemporary conflicts. In the 1970s, during [[the Troubles]], Commission cemeteries in Ireland experienced vandalism.<ref name=Gibney>{{cite web |url=http://www.drb.ie/essays/comrades-in-death#sthash.5XJL9vkp.dpuf |last=Gibney |first=John |title=Comrades in Death |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107001647/http://www.drb.ie/essays/comrades-in-death#sthash.5XJL9vkp.dpuf |archive-date=7 November 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Vandals defaced the central memorial of the [[Étaples Military Cemetery]] in northern France with anti-British and anti-American graffiti on 20 March 2003 immediately after the beginning of the [[Iraq War]].<ref name=Plea>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2907701.stm |title=French Plea as cemetery defaced |work=BBC News |date=1 April 2003 |access-date=30 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112012242/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2907701.stm |archive-date=12 January 2008 |url-status=live  }}</ref> On 9 May 2004, thirty-three headstones were demolished in the [[Gaza War Cemetery|Gaza cemetery]], which contains 3,691&nbsp;graves,<ref name=Gaza>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/71701|title=Gaza War Cemetery|access-date=15 September 2006|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131024001/https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/71701|archive-date=31 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> allegedly in retaliation for the [[Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse]] scandal.<ref name=Lynfield>{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Lynfield |url=http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1183&id=535772004 |title=Palestinians vandalise UK war graves |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=11 May 2004 |access-date=15 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050424070028/http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1183&id=535772004 |archive-date=24 April 2005 |url-status=live  }}</ref> On 24 February 2012, during the [[2011 Libyan Civil War|Libyan Civil War]], Islamist militia damaged over 200 headstones in the [[Benghazi]] war cemetery, as well as the central memorial.<ref name=Stephen>{{cite news |last=Stephen |first=Chris |title=British war graves in Libya desecrated by Islamist militants |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 April 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/04/libya-war-graves-desecrated |access-date=3 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313014511/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/04/libya-war-graves-desecrated |archive-date=13 March 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

===Inequalities in commemoration===

In 2016, the BBC reported that Colin Kerr, then CWGC publicity director, said that a total of 30,000 Indian soldiers are not named on the [[Basra Memorial]] in Iraq. Despite deceased white soldiers being named, only Indian officers were accorded with the honor. The deaths of the non-commissioned men are commemorated by [[regiment]] but simply as "and 258 other Indian soldiers" or "and 272 other Indian soldiers." Kerr added that the commission knew their identities and had launched a project to find ways to publicize them both in India and Britain.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rowlatt |first=Justin |date=17 July 2016 |title=Why India needs to remember 'forgotten' fallen of world wars |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36801602 |access-date= |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

In April 2021, a special committee of the CWGC published a report on historical inequalities in commemoration, concerning "failures to properly commemorate black and Asian troops" after World War I. The report stated that up to 54,000 wartime casualties of "certain ethnic groups" did not receive the same remembrance treatment as white servicemen and another 350,000 military personnel recruited from east Africa and Egypt were not commemorated by name or even at all.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report of the Special Committee to Review Historical Inequalities in Commemoration|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|url=https://www.cwgc.org/media/noantj4i/report-of-the-special-committee-to-review-historical-inequalities-in-commemoration.pdf|access-date=22 April 2021|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422110753/https://www.cwgc.org/media/noantj4i/report-of-the-special-committee-to-review-historical-inequalities-in-commemoration.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BBCInequality">{{cite news|title=Commonwealth war graves: PM 'deeply troubled' over racism|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56840131|date=22 April 2021|access-date=22 April 2021|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422013918/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56840131|url-status=live}}</ref> A set of public statements by CWGC and the Special Committee on the issue and the next steps to be taken were published on the CWGC website, and the then defence secretary [[Ben Wallace (politician)|Ben Wallace]] made an official apology in the House of Commons.<ref name="BBCInequality"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Report of the Special Committee to Review Historical Inequalities in Commemoration|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|url=https://www.cwgc.org/non-commemoration-report/?mc_cid=064f49789b&mc_eid=52c50e35b3|access-date=22 April 2021|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422190648/https://www.cwgc.org/non-commemoration-report/?mc_cid=064f49789b&mc_eid=52c50e35b3|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[American Battle Monuments Commission]]
* [[German War Graves Commission]]
* [[World War I memorials]]
* [[List of Imperial War Graves staff burials]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book  |title=Evidence, History, and the Great War: Historians and the Impact of 1914–18 |first=Gail |last=Braybon |year =2004 |publisher=Berghahn Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1-5718-1801-0 |oclc=1100228087}}
* {{cite book |title=The Aesthetics of Organization |editor-last=Linstead |editor-first=Stephen |editor2-last=Höpfl |editor2-first=Heather |year=2000 |contribution=An-aesthetics |last1=Carter |first1=Pippa |first2=Norman |last2=Jackson |publication-place=London |publisher=SAGE Publications Ltd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aestheticsoforga0000unse/page/180 180–197] |isbn=978-0-7619-5323-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/aestheticsoforga0000unse/page/180 }}
* {{cite book| ref = {{harvid|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2013}}| url = http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/ar_2013| title = CWGC Annual Report 2012–2013| publisher = Commonwealth War Graves Commission| access-date = 28 December 2013| archive-date = 30 December 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232741/http://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/ar_2013| url-status = live}}
* {{cite book| ref = {{harvid|Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report|2021}}| url =https://www.cwgc.org/media/ym4d5nqj/annual-report-2021-2022.pdf| title = CWGC Annual Report 2021–2022| publisher = Commonwealth War Graves Commission| access-date = 20 November 2021}}
* {{cite book  |title= The Foreign Burial of American War Dead: A History |first=Chris |last=Dickon |publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC |year=2011|isbn=978-0-7864-4612-4 |oclc=659753667}}
* {{cite book  |title= Americans at War in Foreign Forces: A History, 1914-1945 |first=Chris |last=Dickon |publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC |year=2014|isbn=978-0-7864-7190-4 |oclc=894719554}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://www.ihbconline.co.uk/context/107/index.html#/31/zoomed |title=The Commonwealth War Graves Commission |first=Barry |last=Edwards |journal=Context |issue=107 |date=November 2008 |publisher=The Institute of Historical Building Conversation |access-date=15 August 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042828/http://www.ihbconline.co.uk/context/107/index.html#/31/zoomed |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book  |title=The Quick and the Dead: Fallen Soldiers and Their Families in the Great War |year =2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |first=Richard |last=van Emden |isbn=978-0-7475-9779-7 |oclc=795355797}}
* {{cite book  | title= Courage Remembered: The Story Behind the Construction and Maintenance of the Commonwealth's Military Cemeteries and Memorials of the Wars of 1914–18 and 1939–45 |last1=Gibson |first1=T. A. Edwin |last2=Ward |first2=G. Kingsley |year=1989 | publisher=Stationery Office Books |location=London |isbn=0-11-772608-7 |oclc=476384770 }}
* {{cite book  |title=Cemeteries of the Great War By Sir Edwin Lutyens |first=Jeroen |last=Geurst |year=2010 |publisher=010 Publishers |isbn=978-90-6450-715-1 |oclc=901292506}}
* {{cite book  | title= The Unending Vigil: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission |last=Longworth |first=Philip |year=2003 |orig-year=1st. pub. CWGC: 1967 |edition=1985 revised |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=1-84415-004-6 |oclc=1016649518}}
* {{cite book  | title= International Governmental Organizations |last=Peaslee |first=Amos Jenkins |year=1974 | publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|location=London |volume=2 |edition=3rd |isbn=90-247-1601-2 }}
* {{cite journal |title=Battlefield Cemeteries, Pilgrimage, and Literature after the First World War: The Burial of the Dead |first=Joanna |last=Scutts |journal=English Literature in Transition,1880–1920 |volume=52 |issue=4 |year=2009 |pages=387–416 |doi=10.2487/elt.52.4(2009)0045 |s2cid=162051177 |issn=0013-8339 |id=BL Shelfmark 3775.070000}}
* {{cite book |last1 =Signoli |last2=de Verines |first1=Michel |first2=Guillaume | year = 2011| contribution = Burials related to recent military conflicts. Case studies from France| editor-last = Marquez-Grant| editor-first = Nicholas | editor2-last = Fibiger| editor2-first = Linda | title = The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation: An International Guide to Laws and Practice in the Excavation and Treatment of Archaeological Human Remains| publication-place = Oxon| publisher=Routhedge| pages =711–717| isbn = 978-1-136-87956-2 |oclc=755922051}}
* {{Cite book   |title=Silent Cities: Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Memorial and Cemetery Architecture of the Great War |first1=Gavin |last1=Stamp |first2=John |last2=Harris|year=1977 | publisher=Royal Institute of British Architects |location=London |oclc=16438447}}
* {{cite book   |title=Memorial to the Missing of the Somme |first=Gavin |last=Stamp | publisher=Profile Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-86197-811-0 |oclc=1055383547}}
* {{cite book  |first=Julie |last=Summers |title=Remembered: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission |year=2007 |publisher=Merrell |location=London |isbn=978-1-85894-374-9 |oclc=1152049462}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Ian A|contribution=Hopton Wood Stone – England's premier decorative stone|title=England's Heritage in Stone Proceedings of a Conference Tempest Anderson Hall, York 15–17 March 2005|year=2005|pages=90–105|url=http://www.englishstone.org.uk/York/ESF%20-%20Ian%20Thomas.pdf|publisher=Heritage in Stone|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514044950/http://www.englishstone.org.uk/York/ESF%20-%20Ian%20Thomas.pdf|archive-date=14 May 2014 |oclc= 770340529}}
* {{cite book  | title= The Immortal Heritage: An Account of the Work and Policy of the Imperial War Graves Commission During Twenty Years |last=Ware |first=Fabian |year=1937 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |oclc=629958536}}
* {{cite book |last=Winter |first=Jay |year=1998 |title=Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-63988-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji9ib28vmTYC |access-date=29 October 2015 |archive-date=25 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425031430/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji9ib28vmTYC |url-status=live |oclc=1159801157 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wittman |first=Laura |year=2011 |title=The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Modern Mourning, and the Reinvention of the Mystical Body |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto, Canada |isbn=978-1-4426-4339-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iuOJhxnKmBoC |access-date=29 October 2015 |archive-date=25 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425145717/https://books.google.com/books?id=iuOJhxnKmBoC |url-status=live |oclc=777930306 }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website}}
* [http://www.mapleleaflegacy.ca/ Maple Leaf Legacy Project]
* [http://www.southafricawargraves.org/ South Africa War Graves Project]
* [http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/ United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019070000/http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/ |date=19 October 2014 }}
* [https://nzhistory.govt.nz/category/tid/648 New Zealand ''Memorials Register,'' Ministry of Culture & Heritage]
* {{Flickr-inline2|id=cwgc}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I10fJzy8mQ Presentation on the history of the CWGC by Julie Summers]

{{Commonwealth War Graves Commission}}
{{Commonwealth of Nations topics}}
{{World War I War Memorials in France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Commonwealth War Graves Commission| ]]
[[Category:Australian military cemeteries|Australian military cemeteries]]
[[Category:British military memorials and cemeteries|British military memorials and cemeteries]]
[[Category:Canadian military memorials and cemeteries|Canadian military memorials and cemeteries]]
[[Category:Indian military memorials and cemeteries|Indian military memorials and cemeteries]]
[[Category:New Zealand military memorials and cemeteries|New Zealand military memorials and cemeteries]]
[[Category:South African military memorials and cemeteries|South African military memorials and cemeteries]]
[[Category:Intergovernmental organizations]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Berkshire]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Family]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1917]]
[[Category:Military history of the British Empire and Commonwealth in World War II]]