Taukkyan Cremation Memorial

• Country Myanmar
• Total identified casualties 1060 Find these casualties
• Identified casualties from Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 17.03581, Longitude: 96.13291

Location information

The Taukkyan Cremation Memorial is situated in Taukkyan War Cemetery. 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"). The memorial takes the form of a screen wall with bronze panels on both sides, and is located at the rear of the cemetery, behind the colonnaded Rangoon Memorial.

Visiting information

Taukkyan War Cemetery is open everyday 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 CREMATION MEMORIAL commemorates more than 1,000 Second World War casualties who died in campaigns in Burma (now Myanmar) whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith.

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 MEMORIAL which commemorates 46 servicemen of both wars who died and were buried elsewhere in Burma but whose graves could not be maintained.