Honeysuckle at Holten Canadian War Cemetery, The Netherlands.
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THE WORLD-WIDE TASK
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HE Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established by Royal Charter of 21 May 1917, the provisions of which are now amended and extended by a Supplemental Charter of 8 June 1964. Its duties are to mark and maintain the graves of the members of the forces of the Common- wealth who died in the two world wars, to build and maintain memorials to the dead whose graves are unknown, and to keep records and registers. The cost is shared by the partner governments – those of Australia, Britain, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa - in proportions based on the numbers of their graves.
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At Appendix D are listed the 140 countries in which there are Common- wealth war graves and memorials; Appendix E summarises the 1,694,946 commemorations for which the Commission is responsible.
Almost all the war cemeteries and memorials are maintained by the Commission's own staff, although in a number of countries, mainly within the Commonwealth, special arrangements exist whereby the governments of those countries carry out care and maintenance on the Commission's behalf, usually free of charge. The care of the war graves in civil cemeteries and churchyards is mostly entrusted to local and church authorities who maintain them in agreement with the Commission.
The work is founded upon principles which have remained unaltered: that each of the dead should be commemorated individually by name either on the headstone on the grave or by an inscription on a memorial; that the headstones and memorials should be permanent; that the headstones should be uniform; and that there should be no distinction made on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.
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