| Historical Information: |
The RANGOON MEMORIAL bears the names of almost
27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns
in Burma (now Myanmar) and who have no known grave. The memorial stands in
TAUKKYAN WAR CEMETERY, which is the largest of the three war cemeteries in
Burma. It was begun in 1951 for the reception of graves from four
battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw which were
difficult to access and could not be maintained. The last was an original
'Chindit' cemetery containing many of those who died in the battle for
Myitkyina. The graves have been grouped together at Taukkyan to preserve
the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries Burials were also
transferred from civil and cantonment cemeteries, and from a number of
isolated jungle and roadside sites. Because of prolonged post-war unrest,
considerable delay occurred before the Army Graves Service were able to
complete their work, and in the meantime many such graves had disappeared.
However, when the task was resumed, several hundred more graves were
retrieved from scattered positions throughout the country and brought
together here. The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the
Second World War, 867 of them unidentified. In the 1950s, the graves of 52
Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War were brought into the
cemetery from the following cemeteries where permanent maintenance was not
possible: Henzada (1); Meiktila Cantonment (8); Thayetmyo New (5);
Thamakan (4); Mandalay Military (12) and Maymyo Cantonment (22). Taukkyan
War Cemetery also contains: The TAUKKYAN CREMATION MEMORIAL commemorating
more than 1,000 Second World War casualties whose remains were cremated in
accordance with their faith. The TAUKKYAN MEMORIAL which commemorates 45
servicemen of both wars who died and were buried elsewhere in Burma but
whose graves could not be maintained. |
