War Memorial Cemetery

The Allies had established the Allied War Memorial Cemeteries all over the world. There were 3 Allied War Memorial Cemeteries in Myanmar, Htauk Kyant, Thanbyuzayat and Yangon.

The Htauk Kyant War Memorial Cemetery, beautifully kept ground, had 27,000 stone-graves of Commonwealth and Allied Forces Fallen Soldiers in the Myanmar Campaign were honourably kept. It is located in Mingaladon Township, Yangon Division about 32 km from Yangon, on the road to Bago.

The relatives of the Allied Forces Fallen Soldiers throughout the world used to visit the said War Memorial Cemeteries in Myanmar to pay homage to their respective Allied Forces Fatten Soldiers' Graves. The peoples of Myanmar never destroyed the graves of the Japanese Imperial Fallen Soldiers with hatred throughout the Country. Myanmars kept very well not only the graves of Japanese Imperial Fallen Soldiers but also all the Fallen Soldiers from all over the World from heartfelt humanitarian ground. Some relatives from Japan used to visit to pay homage yearly at their respective Japanese Imperial Fallen Soldiers' graves throughout the Myanmar.

Htauk Kyant war cemetery is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Myanmar. It was built in 1951 for the reception of graves from four battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw which were difficult to access and could not be maintained. The last was an original 'Chindit' cemetery containing many of those who died in the battle for Myitkyina. The graves have been grouped together at Htauk Kyant to preserve the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries Burials were also transferred from civil and cantonment cemeteries, and from a number of isolated jungle and roadside sites. Because of prolonged post-war unrest, considerable delay occurred before the Army Graves Service were able to complete their work, and in the meantime many such graves had disappeared. However, when the task was resumed, several hundred more graves were retrieved from scattered positions throughout the country and brought together here. The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified.

In the 1950s, the graves of 52 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War were brought into the cemetery from the following cemeteries where permanent maintenance was not possible: Henzada (1); Meiktila Cantonment (8); Thayetmyo New (5); Thamakan (4); Mandalay Military (12) and Maymyo Cantonment (22).

Taukkyan War Cemetery also contains: The Yangon Memorial, which bears the names of almost 27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns in Burma and who have no known grave.

This cemetery commemorating more than 1,000 Second World War casualties whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith. The Htauk Kyant memorial which commemorates 45 servicemen of both wars who died and were buried elsewhere in Burma but whose graves could not be maintained.

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