Honouring war graves mission
THE Imperial War Graves was established by the signing of the Royal Charter on May 21, 1917 establishing the Imperial War Graves Commission (by means of a supplementary Royal Charter dated June 8, 1964 the name was changed to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission).
South Africa was a founder member of the commission.
The duties of the commission were to mark and maintain the graves of members of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth who died in the two World Wars (1914-1918, 1939-1945) to build memorials to those that have no known grave and to keep records and registers.
The work of the commission is guided by the following principles: each of the dead should be commemorated individually by name either on the headstone on the grave or by an inscription on a memorial; the headstone and memorial should be permanent; headstones should be uniform and there should be no discrimination made on account of military or civilian rank, race or creed.
May 21, 2017 marks a century of caring for Commonwealth war graves from both World War I and II as stated in the Royal Charter.
Today the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for 1.7 million war dead in 153 countries. It has more than 23 000 staff members. More than 800 000 are buried in more than almost 24000 burial grounds while more than 700 000 are commemorated on memorials.
A total of 21811 South Africans of all races are commemorated by the commission. This represents 9 903 from World War I (6706 identified burials and 3 197 commemorated on memorials) and 11 908 from World War II (10 020 identified burials and 1888 commemorated on memorials).
Six-hundred and twelve identified and three unidentified South African Commonwealth war casualties from World War I and 16 from World War II are buried in the Dar es Salaam War Cemetery in Tanzania while 486 identified and nine unidentified South Africans from World War II are buried in the El Alamein War Cemetery in Egypt.
With regards to memorials, 833 South African casualties from World War I are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France while 1229 South Africans from World War II are commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial in Egypt.
The South African Agency, established in 1922, is responsible for the Commonwealth war graves and memorials in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, St Helena Island and Ascension Island.
This comprises 8328 identified Commonwealth burials and 495 Commonwealth casualties on memorials.
In addition the agency is responsible for the graves of 136 foreign nationals and 22 947 Non-Commonwealth burials (British graves from the South African War 1899-1902) in 1119 burial sites.
The burial sites in South Africa range from war cemeteries, military plots and single graves in local authority cemeteries to single graves along a railway line or a dirt road or a family farm.
The war cemeteries includes the Palmietkuil South War Cemetery and Memorial near Springs, Potchefstroom Military Cemetery, Hamilton War Cemetery in Bloemfontein and the Dido Valley Naval Cemetery in Simon’s Town. Military plots are found in the Maitland Cemetery in Cape Town, West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, Stellawood Cemetery in Durban, Plumstead Cemetery in Cape Town and the Thaba Tshwane New Cemetery in Pretoria.
The Palmietkuil South War Cemetery and Memorial contains the graves of 215 members of the Native Military Corps and two members of the Essential Services Protection Force.
Only 122 casualties are commemorated on the memorial in the cemetery, 103 from the Native Military Corps, seven each from the Cape Corps and the Indian and Malay Corps, four from the Essential Services Protection Force and one from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
Ross is former secretary of the South African Agency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission