another one for Terry

[ypres1418]

Terry,

I hope you can help with this one and sorry if its been asked before,

while we were away last week a little discussion was going on whether the head stones are exactly placed over the bodies. we know that in some cases the bodies were buried in trenches and so came the question how do you no that the man whose head stone you are looking at is where he is buried? am i making sense?

I know that in some cemeteries the bodies were laid out after the war and would be correct but it is those buried in trenches that caused the problem.

thanking you in advance,

Mandy

[Terry Denham]

The only accurate thing to say is that every effort was made to place the headstones over the bodies.

Obviously this was easier with post-war concentration cemeteries and 'behind the lines' cemeteries. However, when it came to battlefield cemeteries much reliance was placed on existing markers. Also, the burial teams became very experienced at seeing where earth had been disturbed in a certain pattern and by variations in the growth of grass above a body.

Out of the 24000 cemeteries worldwide with CWGC war graves, relatively few are actual 'battlefield' cemeteries where burials took place under fire (many of these were subsequently destroyed by shellfire etc).

[ypres1418]

thanks terry.

Mandy