Visits and Ceremonies
The access problems mentioned earlier have had little effect on thend towards increasing numbers of people visiting the Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials. It is not possible to establish precisely how many people visit each year, nor who they are and why they visit, but it is clear that part of the explanation for the trend is the general increase in travel abroad and the fact that many of the people with the leisure to travel are of the generation that lived through the Second World War. A recent analysis of the requests for information received at the Commission's head office revealed that over 50% came from the relatives, friends or comrades of the war dead, and it is clear that this group with personal knowledge of the war dead is well represented amongst visitors. Their visits are made in the spirit of pilgrimage and although many choose to make their journeys indepen- dently, for others there is great consolation and support available by travelling with the war graves pilgrimages organised by the Royal British Legion and similar organisations in other member countries.
For others, the reasons for visiting may be less personal than historical. This applies to the many groups of schoolchildren, who visit war cemeteries and memorials as part of study tours of the Western Front and Normandy, and to those who travel with the battlefield tour companies that have proliferated in recent years. Others may be more interested in architectural than military history. The Lutyens Trust, for instance, this year organised a visit for its members to France to study the memorials and cemeteries designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was one of the Commission's principal architects after the First World War.
Ceremony at Sande In Vestfold Cemetery, Norway
Pilgrimages are often planned to coincide with the ceremonies connected with the anniversaries of battles, and this year has seen the 50th anniversary of several significant events in the Second World War, as well as the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. The Thiepval Memorial (designed by Lutyens) is always the focus for the main ceremony commemorating this event on 1 July each year, but this year's ceremony was on a larger scale than usual, in the presence of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, representing Her Majesty The Queen. Several veterans of the battle, with an average age of 95, also managed to attend.
Many more veterans managed to attend the week of special events marking the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Crete in May, including many
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