22 December 2022
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 2022
2022 is a year that will feature prominently in the history books. Around the world, countries continued to deal with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the political fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Across the Commonwealth, we mourned the passing of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and celebrated the ascension of HRH King Charles III. Here in the UK, we saw three different Prime Ministers and record-breaking temperatures in the summer.
Throughout it all, the work of the CWGC continued. Read on to discover what we achieved in 2022:
January
The year started off successfully thanks to the identification of five missing RAF crew members of the Second World War. The remains of the five Czech crewmen of 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, Royal Air Force, were discovered in the Netherlands where their Vickers Wellington crashed after being attacked by a night fighter during a bombing raid on Bremen in 1941.
All five men, who had previously been commemorated on the CWGC’s Runnymede Memorial were reburied at the CWGC’s Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery in the Netherlands in June.
We also had cause for celebration later in January, when our Technical Supervisor for Malta, Mark Fitzgerald, was awarded an Honorary MBE for services to Commonwealth war graves. Mark has been with the Commission since 1993 and has played a key role in our work in Malta throughout his time with us.
February
In February we celebrated the reopening of Durban Stellawood Cemetery in South Africa following an extensive work at the cemetery.
In 2021, storm damage, including heavier than expected rainfall in Durban, caused erosion and landslides in the sandy soil of the cemetery. Thankfully the remains of the 700 burials of the two world wars were not damaged, however work was needed to ensure no further damage was done to the site.
After initial, temporary repairs were completed, a team of engineers carried out a detailed investigation of the site and over the course of the year, our team began repairing and protecting the site. During the project, we also identified opportunities for better conservation and sustainability, including the implementation of a sustainable planting scheme full of indigenous plant and tree species appropriate for the local climate and the addition of a borehole water supply and irrigation system which will reduce the use of local municipality potable water, a precious resource for the local area.
In February, the CWGC’s Kranji War Cemetery hosted a memorial service for the 80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore. Organised by the Commemoration Committee for the 80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore, the event was attended by dignitaries of the former combatant nations and paid tribute to all those that lost their lives in the battle for Singapore.
March
In March, a busy year of rededications and reburials began in earnest, with a number of events held in our cemeteries across Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. On Tuesday 8 March, three rededications were held in Belgium for three previously unidentified World War One burials.
The graves of Sapper Stanley Evelyn Barnden of 17th Field Company Royal Engineers, Lance Corporal Owen James Munday and Private Leonard George Holiday, both of 15th (Hampshire Yeomanry) Battalion The Hampshire Regiment, were rededicated more than a hundred years after they died.
Towards the end of the month, we were pleased to announce that the CWGC Archive had been awarded Accredited Archive Service status by The National Archives administered Archive Service Accreditation scheme.
The CWGC archive tracks the history of the Commission from its founding in 1917 through to the present day and contains over 60,000 items from the Commission’s past including personal correspondence letters, maintenance and tour reports, staff records, photographs and press cuttings.
Discover the CWGC Archive
April
At the beginning of April, we held events for our team of UK volunteers at our sites at Brookwood and Stratford-upon-Avon. These events were an opportunity for our volunteers to network with one another, meet some of our Commission staff and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
Our team at Stratford were joined by the Canadian High Commissioner, The Honourable Ralph Goodale, and Colonel James Hawthorne, representing the Canadian Armed Forces, who stopped by to find out more about the hard work of our volunteers.
Events in our sites continued throughout April, including the rededications of Rifleman Albert George Sleet, Lieutenant Wilfrid Ashton Piercy and Serjeant James Gration DCM, who died during the Great War whilst serving with battalions of The London Regiment. The services were held at Arras Road Cemetery, Dud Corner Cemetery and Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension respectively.
Each man was identified after researchers submitted evidence suggesting that their graves had been located. After further research by the CWGC, The National Army Museum and the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), it was confirmed that these men had indeed been found.
Learn more about how we find and recover the war dead
May
At the start of May, we were delighted to announce plans for a new CWGC memorial in Cape Town, South Africa, which would commemorate 1,600 South African servicemen who were not formerly commemorated following their deaths in the First World War.
The announcement also included the start of an architectural design competition, encouraging South African architects to enter their designs for the new memorial.
May also saw the 100th anniversary of the King’s Pilgrimage. In May 1922, King George V undertook a personal pilgrimage to several of our newly constructed sites on the Western Front. As part of a series of anniversary events, HRH The Princess Royal visited Etaples Military Cemetery to meet with some of our Commission staff and pay her respects to the more than 11,000 Commonwealth casualties commemorated there.
The good news kept coming in May, as the CWGC were honoured at the prestigious Museum + Heritage awards, winning in the Best use of Digital (UK) category, for our War Grave Week 2021 campaign alongside M&C Saatchi.
This news came at the perfect time, as we embarked on our second ever War Graves Week, holding events across the UK, France and Belgium, where members of the public were encouraged to visit our sites and find out more about our work.
As part of War Graves Week, the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation hosted An Evening at Brookwood, an evening of commemoration through music at Brookwood Military Cemetery. Nearly 400 of you gathered Infront of the 1939-45 memorial for a programme of music from local and national acts.
June
Following on from our Cape Town announcement, in June we were pleased to deliver a Book of Remembrance, containing the names of more than 900 previously uncommemorated Sierra Leonean war dead, at an event in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The book was part of an initiative to honour these men for the first time while plans are put in place for their commemoration on a new memorial in Sierra Leone. The event also saw the launch of a new exhibition and a campaign to uncover the stories of the Sierra Leoneans who had served during the wars.
Both our Commission and the Foundation teams were out in force at the Chalke Valley history festival in June, a great opportunity to mingle with history aficionados and enthusiasts. Our teams are always happy to talk history, and the festival provided the perfect opportunity to talk about our work and the stories of the men and women we commemorate around the world.
We were also delighted to welcome back our Guides at the CWGC’s Thiepval Memorial in France and at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium. Our history-loving guides are on hand to help visitors explore these iconic sites, telling the stories of the men and women commemorated there and explaining the work of the Commission.
July
In July, we were pleased to announce that the award-winning Ghanian-British architect Sir David Adjaye, OBE, had been appointed as Creative Advisor to the CWGC Non-Commemoration project.
Sir David’s first responsibility was to chair the panel of adjudicators for the Cape Town Memorial architectural competition. Sir David will continue to work closely with the rest of the Non-Commemoration team on further projects, helping to ensure that the uncommemorated men and women who died during the world wars are remembered with honour.
July also saw the introduction of the Commission’s very own biodegradable wreath, which went on sale at our Ieper Information Centre. The wreath, made locally using sustainable materials, provides an environmentally friendly way for visitors to our iconic cemeteries and memorials in Belgium to have their own personal moment of remembrance.
We were also happy to announce the reopening of the CWGC’s iconic Thiepval Memorial. The memorial had been undergoing an extensive restoration programme, inline with the Commission’s sustainability objectives – ensuring that the 90 year old memorial continues to stand in all her glory for decades to come.
August
On a hot weekend in August, the CWGC Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery played host to a series of events to mark the 80th Anniversary of Operation Jubilee, the ill-fated raid on Dieppe in 1942.
The events were attended by local dignitaries, The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Nicolas Langlois, Mayor of Dieppe, and Sir Bill Rollo, Vice Chairman of the CWGC, as well as representatives from the armed forces and other luminaries.
We also celebrated World Letter Day by delving into the CWGC Archive and exhibiting a letter, dated 9 October 1923, to Rudyard Kipling, the IWGC’s Literary Advisor, discussing the inscription for the Menin Gate.
On the letter you can see Kipling’s doodles, where he scribbled down some initial ideas for the iconic memorial, a rare insight into the creating of one of the Commission’s most well-known sites.
September
In September, the Commission joined the rest of the world in mourning the passing of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. We remembered the times that the Queen has visited our sites around the world, paying tribute to the men and women of the Commonwealth who lost their lives in the world wars.
It also gave us great pleasure to welcome HRH King Charles III into his new role. We are looking forward to continuing our close association with the Royal Family during his reign and look forward to welcoming him to our sites again in the future.
We were also pleased to announce that Durban-based Dean Jay Architects had won the competition to design the new Cape Town Memorial in South Africa. The new memorial will be built in the Cape Town Company’s Garden and will be funded and maintained in perpetuity by the CWGC.
October
October proved to be an incredibly busy month for reburials and rededications, with many events held at CWGC sites in the UK and Western Europe.
One such example was Private Thomas Parry, King's Own Scottish Borderers. His rededication was one of six ceremonies that took place on the 18 and 19 October 2022. Private Parry was rededicated at CWGC’s Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Belgium.
In Nairobi, our teams’ anthropologists and heritage experts used archival sources to conduct extensive fieldwork to try and find potential burial locations from the First World War. Using a range of sources from the UK National Archives, the Kenya National Archives and our own CWGC Archive. The team identified several sites thought to contain the remains of both German and British African soldiers.
November
As always, the Remembrance period was a busy time for the Commission, with events at our sites around the world for Remembrance Sunday. Commission staff also took part in the Remembrance procession at the Cenotaph in London.
Throughout the Remembrance period, we asked you to tell us what remembrance means to you. We received more than 1000 submissions, with stories, photos and memories about the people we remember, and why we still commemorate them today.
The last of this year’s rededication services was held in November at the CWGC’s Canada Cemetery where a ceremony for Corporal George Herbert Ledingham Canadian Infantry, 43rd Bn was held on 19 November.
November ended with some fantastic news. In Belgium, in a special ceremony under the Menin Gate, a Premium Decree was signed by Minister Matthias Diependaele, Flemish Minister of Finance and Budget, Housing and Immovable Heritage formalising a major restoration project on the Menin Gate, due to start in 2023.
Discover more about the Menin Gate restoration
December
Following last year’s postponement due to Covid-19, we were delighted to hold our first ever Commemorations at Christmas Carol Service in aid of the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation at the Guards’ Chapel in London.
The concert was a great success with more than 400 attendees enjoying a night of festive music, as well as special guest appearances from Michael Morpurgo, who gave a reading from his book Best Christmas Present in the World, Barbara Dickson OBE, who performing a very special version of the traditional Scottish tune, MacCrimmon’s Lament, and Sir Anthony Seldon who gave a reading from his new book The Path of Peace at the post-show reception.
We look forward to hosting another event next year.
To mark the end of the year, we also released our Sustainability Report for 2022. The report gives an overview of everything the Commission is doing to combat climate change, protect biodiversity and promote a circular economy.
Discover more about our Sustainability plan and read our 2022 sustainability report