01 April 2025
Non-Commemorations Programme 2024-2025 Annual Review Published
The fourth Non-Commemorations Programme annual review, released today, highlights our continued efforts to address historical inequalities in commemoration.
Our focus remains on ensuring that service personnel who served the British Empire but were not properly commemorated are now recognised individually and, where possible, by name.
When we launched this programme four years ago, the task of locating records and finding names was considerable. To date, we have identified over 11,600 previously uncommemorated and continue to use global archival research and fieldwork to locate existing records.
This year, we’ve gained a clearer understanding of the scale of this issue, with our researchers placing a figure on at least 88,000 First World War servicemen. We are also advancing operational plans across key sites to ensure no-one is forgotten.
Our progress is driven by global networks and partnerships, with notable achievements including the opening of the Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial and ongoing plans for the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps Memorial later this year. We have been honoured to achieve global support, including from descendants of uncommmemorated servicemen.
This work enriches the CWGC’s commemorative heritage, ensuring continued shared awareness, recognition and respect for all those who lost their lives in the world wars.