Taukkyan Memorial

• Country Myanmar
• Total identified casualties 46 Find these casualties
• Identified casualties from First & Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 17.03583, Longitude: 96.13141

Location information

Taukkyan War Cemetery is in Taukkyan town in the township of Mingaladon, Yangon greater area, on the main highway No 1 (Pyay Road). From the centre of the city of Yangon, it is 21 miles north and 11 miles from the International airport, 1 hour drive from the centre of Rangoon and 30 minutes from the International airport. Exact location of the cemetery is North (17º02'08.24") and East (96º07'55.28").

Visiting information

Taukkyan War Cemetery is open everyday from 07:00-17:00.

Accompanied wheelchair access is possible through the main entrance and unaccompanied through the side entrance adjacent to the office. For further information regarding wheelchair access please contact our Enquiries Section on +44 (0)1628 507200.

History information

The TAUKKYAN MEMORIAL commemorates 46 servicemen of both wars who died and were buried elsewhere in Burma (now Myanmar) but whose graves could not be maintained. It should not be confused with the much larger Rangoon Memorial which commemorates 27,000 men with no known graves and is also located within Taukkyan War Cemetery.

The 19 First World War casualties commemorated on this memorial served in garrisons and lie buried in the following cemeteries: Aungban Cemetery; Bassein Church of England Cemetery; Diamond Island Cof E Cemetery; Kungyangon Cemetery; Lwekaw Cemetery; Mangthone Military Grave; Prome Government Cemetery; Pyinmana Cemetery; Shwebo Cantonment Cemetery.

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 RANGOON MEMORIAL, which bears the names of almost 27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns in Burma and who have no known grave.

The TAUKKYAN CREMATION MEMORIAL, which commemorates more than 1,000 Second World War casualties who died in campaigns in Burma whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith.