Military Chat

Not sure how long this has been on the CWGC site, but it now has images of documents relating to burials - Registers of the graves and details of gravestones, including the inscriptions. For those not able to visit a relative's grave this would be interesting information.

Interesting! I'd noticed that there were documents attached, but hadn't really looked at them.

An associated site is the War Graves Photgraphic Project http://twgpp.org/
Many military gravestones have been photographed by volunteers and uploaded to the site. You can request a 'clean' copy for a donation of £3.50

The War Graves Photographic Project is great.

My great uncle died in 1915 in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and knew from the CWGC site that his name was on a memorial over there. My son had a friend who went to Iraq with work a few years ago and we had hoped he might be able to get a photo of the memorial for us. Unfortunately with all the trouble in Iraq at the time it was too dangerous for him to go to the area.

We thought that was the end of our chances of getting a photograph until we heard of the War Graves Photographic Project. Luckily the memorial in Iraq was one of the photos they had and we were able to get a copy from them. The quality is fantastic and we got two photos - one of the whole memorial and a close up of my great uncle's name. We were over the moon.

Kath. x

I have managed to visit my uncle's grave in France and took photos of his grave but the Photograpic Project is great for those who can't visit. The cemetery was immaculate and a credit to the CWGC.

????

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920 about John Cremin
Name: John Cremin
Gender: Male
Birth Date: abt 1897
Age: 19
Document Year: 1916
Residence Place: Mains St, Mallow Co Cork
Regimental Number: 7024
Regiment Name: Royal irish fusiliers - royal munster fusiliers
Form Title: Short Service Attestation
Number of Images: 11
Other Records: Search for 'John Cremin' in other WWI collections
Family Members:
Name Relation to Soldier
John Cremin Self (Head)

Think you have posted this to the wrong thread, Maddie!

On a related note, LAC has 3 sets of records for WW1 Canadian veterans at:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.01-e.php
They're not indexed, but are alphabetical - check the help link for the appropriate volume:
Also check the adjacent images - many records are two-sided.

19. Commonwealth War Graves Registers, First World War 46246 Help
This gives the date, cause and place of death (my dad's cousin just has KIA - The Somme here), and a record of burials and reburials.
Many soldiers were buried in tempoaray cemeteries by the battlefiald clearing parties, and only in their final resting place after the war, when a proper cemetery was constructed.
The notice was sent to n.o.k. - my dad's uncle in Sept 1924. They tried a couple more times, but he kept moving, with no complete trail of forwarding addresses.
He finally learnt where his son was buried in July 1927, almost 11 y after the death.

20. Circumstances of Death Registers, First World War 46246 Help
Again, we just have KIA, but the location "trenches SW of Courcelette" narrows it down to within a mile, and also what was going on that day when read in conjunction with the battalion war diary.

28. Veterans Death Cards: First World War 46114 Help
I don't know why they kept these records - it seems the collection was pretty hit or miss.
My dad's other cousin is recorded here, but I conjecture only when a third cousin asked if the deceased's widow was entitled to any pension (no).
The record was made 14/7/1927, but he died 15/2/1927. There's no dod noted, but it does give the addy of his widow - whom I never knew about.

Just as a footnote, a couple of these cards refer to the IWGC - one forgets that before the formation of the Commonwealth, the CWGC was the Imperial WGC.