2 soldiers in 1 grave. Was this unusual?

[pgis]

Hi,

I have just discovered that a soldier I am interested in, is buried in the same grave as another soldier.They were not related,as far as I am aware.

They were serving with different regiments and their dates of death are different by a number of months. The 1 headstone has the insignia of both regiments carved on it. Was this fairly normal or somewhat unusual?

Thanks.

Paul.

 

[Ellis1918]

No not unusual - Saulcourt burials after German Spring offensive.

 

[Knotty]

Hi Paul

Not uncommon at all, have a look at this thread, there are several reasons as to why it happened.

John

 

[Ghazala]

At Heilly Station Cemetery on The Somme men were dying in such numbers they had to put three into one grave.  There was no room then for their Regimental badges on the headstone and these are displayed on a wall at the entrance.

[Ghazala]

The Regimental Badges of the men buried at Heilly displayed on the wall.

[Medaler]

There are also several examples of mass graves like this one. There certainly seems to be some evidence here to support that this grave was perhaps left open as not all the deaths seem to have taken place on the same date. One day I want to research this further and try to establish the names of those that are unknown. I reckon it should be possible. One of the identified sets of remains is one of our local lads, hence my interest.

 

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/63901/GUARDS GRAVE, VILLERS COTTERETS FOREST

[Ghazala]

Heilly Station Cemetery The Somme - From the CWGC website -  The burials in this cemetery were carried out under extreme pressure and many of the graves are either too close together to be marked individually, or they contain multiple burials. Some headstones carry as many as three sets of casualty details, and in these cases, regimental badges have had to be omitted. Instead, these badges, 117 in all, have been carved on a cloister wall on the north side of the cemetery. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

[pgis]

Hi all, thanks for the swift replies. I will now read the details on the link provided by Knotty.

Regards.

Paul. 

[RaySearching]

A previous thread

 

Two husbands (one grave)

 

Regards Ray

[Terry_Reeves]

Not just at Heilly, Etaples has a number as well.

 

TR

[mysie]

There are loads of them in cemeteries in Scotland.

                                        Mary

[mancpal]

I believe it was common practice with German dead buried on the Western Front to have 4 soldiers per plot. I don't suggest that every German headstone has 4 soldiers beneath it, merely that it was far from uncommon.

 

Regards

 

Simon

 

[Arthur124]

The German military cemetary at Vladslo (West-Vlaanderen, Belgium) is the resting place of more than 25.000 soldiers on a field a little more
than 2 acres large. Up to 20 names on one stone. Originally a little more than 3000 buried there, after 1956 all those who died in the battles
of the Yser were brought together at Vladslo. In the Vladslo cemetary there is a statue of 'mourning father and mother' by the mother of one of those

buried there. (for those who want to see a picture of the statue : google 'Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Vladslo')

[nigelcave]

On 30 July 2016 at 22:19, mancpal said:

I believe it was common practice with German dead buried on the Western Front to have 4 soldiers per plot. I don't suggest that every German headstone has 4 soldiers beneath it, merely that it was far from uncommon.

 

Regards

 

Simon

 

Well, yes, after concentrations and so forth - i.e. largely a post war phenomenon. At La Targette (Neuville St Vaast) when I first visited there back in 1968 (!) there were wooden crosses, two a cross, generally, all placed in narrow flower beds. Now the number of crosses have been more or less halved by the replacement iron/steel ones with four to a cross and the flower beds have all gone. I think the gardener there at the time in 1968 talked about ninety kilometres of flower bed edging, IIRC. I doubt very much that there was ever a German cemetery in that location in the war, given that it was part of the front line complex for a good chunk of the time at the start of the war until the Germans were pushed out of it during one of the battles of Artois; and they never returned, even in the days of the Spring Offensive of 1918 (but that's another story).

 

During the war the Germans constructed rather fine cemeteries for the most part, with rather impressive headstones and some monumental features - e.g. arches and so forth. Unless exigencies determined, their dead got individual graves.

[andrew pugh]

Hi Paul

Hooge Cemetery is another cemetery where you will see multiple British soldiers listed on one headstone

 

Regards

Andy