Commonwealth Gravestones and American Crosses

Having seen countless cemetaries let alone thousands of graves of many different countries. I going to describe the differences and my thoughts on them. The most common and majority of the cemetaries were Commonwealth ones which included all nationalities in them including the odd German, but were predominantly filled with the British and its colonies and allies like the Scottish, Canadians, Australians, and Belgians. There are over 700 of these scattered across the front and range from a few dozen soldiers to thousands like Tyne Cot. At the entrances of one of these cemetaries are always a registar book listing all the men barried there and any information on them such as the gazetted clips on how they won their VC, who their parents were, or how they died. The stones are white sandstone and include at the top a picture of their regimental emblem, then their name, rank, regiment, age, and date of death, if this information is available. Then there is a cross in the middle which could have been removed if requested by the family. At the bottom families had 66 characters to write what they liked if they wished. The stones could be very orderly if it was a concentration cemetary or they could be slightly disorderly if it was a battlefield cemetary or hospital cemetary. When more then one man was killed by a shell and it was not possible to identify what body part was whose but the identity of the men was known then the stones would be touching together indicating that. However the stones are layed out their are flowers and rose bushes and such all along the graves so each man alawys has flowers at his grave regardless if anyone comes to leave some or not, hense why Commonwealth cemetaries resemble English gardens.

German cemetaries are based more on nature and so have trees growing amongst the stones. The walls are low in order to see the horizon. German cemetaries often consist of mass gravesites along with either dark stone crosses or flat dark plaques level with the ground listing the men. Very little information is given about the men besides their date of death and name. Often 4 German names can be found on one cross.

American cemetaries resemble private estates and golf courses to me. They are massive concentration cemetaries and each cross is placed in row in its exact location perfectly. The grass is immaculate and there are no flowers or plants by the white marble crosses indicating their name, age, date of death, and state they were from. There is no registry at American cemetaries.

That is my brief overview of three different main cemetaries. Now what I think on them. The American cemetaries seem very en mass and impersonal, no regiment emblem, no family words, no flowers, and very little information on the men on the stones and the lack of a registry does not allow for any additional information. Also the fact that the crosses are all layed out perfectly not together indicating how they died, I find is impersonal. I like that Commonwealth cemetaries have flowers because regardless of whether or not that soldier ever has anyone to visit they will always have flowers at their graves. I also like how families still got the chance to write something on it and how Commonwealth soldiers were not allowed to be taken home but had to rest with the men they fought with. The American cemetaries however are missing 40% of the men they fought beside as they were allowed to be repatriated. The American ones do like the others show the Star of David for Jewish graves and mosque shaped ones for Muslims, however everone else got a cross regardless and I do not think that is right at all for those who were not religious or of a different religion then Judaism or Muslim. I do like how the German cemetaries are much more based on nature they almost seem more peaceful and calming then the others although the lack of information and more than one man per cross is not exactly right in my mind. Those are my thoughts on the cemetaries and their differences.

Michelle Pearce