Due to the sheer number numbers of people who were killed as a result of fighting on foreign battlefields, it makes it likely that most families will have a story about their grandfather or great uncle, father or brother, who went away to war and never returned.
British military casualties in the first world war are recorded as being between 658,700 and 885,138, while our armed forces who died in the second world war amounted to around 383,800 to 403,000. The figures are impossible to accurately reflect, especially for the Great War of 1914-1918, so they vary widely.
The majority of British war dead are on British soil, transported back home or as near to home as they could get, but there are thousands of our ancestors buried around the world because of these wars alone.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains around 175,000 graves and memorials of men and women from the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man who were killed in military action abroad. Each year, Britons travel to France, Belgium and further afield to visit battlefield and cemetery locations to pay their respects the graves of family members who fell.
Some families go on a to France to find out more about the person behind the story and see their grave. More travel to Normandy, Picardy and Ypres in Belgium to try and more fully understand the magnitude of the losses, the conditions the troops lived, fought and died in, and to connect with their family heritage in a way they have not done before.
Battlefield coach tours are not just of the battlefields and trenches; they also incorporate the Normandy beaches and other areas of historical and personal interest. Some Battlefield tour companies will also plan graveside visits into the itinerary, which enable people to lay wreaths on the graves or memorials which have particular personal significance.
Planning cemetery visits through the tour company needs to be preceded by actually locating the grave or graves themselves. Again, some smaller operators - like Battlefield Tours, for example - will assist, though anyone with internet access can visit and run a search on family members. The website is not foolproof and has its limitations - first world war records are particularly vague - but in the event a relative's location is found it is possible to view a map of the cemetery and even, in some cases, download photographs.
町田市 墓地
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