Our work continues

Our five-year programme to address historical inequalities in commemoration after the World Wars is nearing completion following the release of a new report. This report surrounds the issues with non-commemoration during and after the end of the Second World War, following our 2021 report which covered non-commemoration at the end of the First World War. 

Read our 2021 Report covering the First World War Read our 2025 Report covering the Second World War

Members of the Nigerian Brigade disembarking in East Africa (© IWM Q15370)

About the CWGC Non-Commemoration Programme

The CWGC Non-Commemoration Programme had a clear mandate: to ensure all those who died in the world wars, no matter where they were, where they died or how they died are remembered equally.

Our historians work with global and state archive materials to direct their research. This allows us to yield important information – we can identify missing names, understand casualty numbers, and identify likely burial locations, as well as reinstate abandoned graves.  

“We have also started to break new ground in projects elsewhere across the globe. The main themes of this research remain unchanged, so the team’s efforts are directed towards gaining a greater understanding of casualty numbers, the whereabouts of missing burials and, of course, the existence of missing names from our sites and records.”

Dr George Hay, Official Historian

Our operations experts, heritage managers and community engagement experts in countries then consult with local communities, governments, institutions, architects, and global heritage experts on the most appropriate form of commemoration.

We work with architects and heritage experts, who enable us to create new memorials for what is our largest piece of work since the Second World War. Every name we recover is a person no longer forgotten, every community and stakeholder engaged with goes some way to righting a historical wrong, and combined these important programmes ensure all those who lost their lives serving the Commonwealth in the First and Second War are equally remembered.