CWGC and gravestone dates

[Clive Temple]

How likely is the date on a soldiers grave to be his death date? In otherwords when a body was recovered was an effort made to trace the actual date on which he died (or went MIA) or was the date of burial used?

Thanks.

[Terry Denham]

The date on a CWGC headstone is that date supplied by the military.

The date of burial is only rarely used and the only cases I have seen are for 'Unknowns' in the UK. In these cases, the headstone reads 'Buried xyz date'.

The military supplied the date as 'Date of Death' and so, in the case of missing men, the date given will depend on military records.

[Clive Temple]

Thanks Terry.