National cemeteries, British -- Belgium; National cemeteries, British -- France; Soldiers' monuments
The planning and planting of the cemeteries must depend largely on their
site and the climate of the country, but it is proposed that, as a
general rule, the cemeteries should have buildings designed for
services, ceremonies, and shelter, where the register of that cemetery
will be kept under permanent safeguard. To recapitulate:--
1. For each Cemetery its Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of
Remembrance, the latter bearing the quotation (_Ecclesiasticus_ 44,
v. 14) “THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE”;
2. For each grave its enduring headstone, carved with the symbol of
the dead man’s faith, his name and rank, his Regimental badge, and
whatever text or inscription his relatives may add;
3. In the Cemetery building the register in which the man’s
birthplace, age, and parentage can be recorded and referred to.
_Memorials to the Missing._
This matter is naturally of the deepest concern to the relatives of
those whose bodies have never been recovered or identified, or whose
graves, once made, have been destroyed by later battles. Their number is
not small, and Sir Frederic Kenyon has suggested that the best way to
record their memory would be to place a tablet on the walls or cloisters
at the cemetery nearest to the spot where it is presumed they have lost
their lives. In the case of officers and men in the Flying Corps, the
place of whose death could not be known within many miles, the tablet
might be placed in the cemetery nearest to the camp from which they had
started on their last flight. But in any case relatives may be assured
that the dead who have no known resting-place will be made equal with
the others, and that each case will be dealt with upon full
consideration of its merits as regards the site and the place of the
memorial.
_Graves of Indian Troops._
The symbols of their faith will also be carved on the headstones of the
soldiers of the Indian Armies who fought beside their comrades from
England and throughout the Empire in France and Belgium in 1914-16; and
of the Indian Labour Corps who have since worked and taken the risks of
life behind the lines. A committee of the Commission has decided upon
the form that these symbols should take, and has further recommended
that a Mohammedan mosque and Hindu temple should be erected in France
for remembrance of the sacrifice made by Hindus and Mohammedans alike in
the war. The designs for these buildings have been submitted for
approval in India. In all such matters the treatment of the bodies of
these soldiers will be in strict conformity with the practice of their
religions, and will be carried out under the supervision of native
officers.
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF A REGIMENTAL HEADSTONE.]
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF A JEWISH HEADSTONE.]
_Treatment of Isolated Graves._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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