RANGOON
WAR CEMETERY
Myanmar
Visiting
Information:
A caretaker resides on site
and the cemetery gates are open between 8am and 5 pm. Wheelchair access to this
cemetery is possible via the main entrance. For further information regarding
wheelchair access, please contact 01628 507200.
Location
Information:
The
cemetery is situated between Myienegone and Manthawaddy roundabout (close to the
circle) and at the back of Burma Translation Society (Sarbaybeikmann). The
entrance to the cemetery is down a lane facing east along PYI road (formerly
Prome Road) some 8 kilometres from the port, 12 kilometres from the airport and
5 kilometres from the main railway station. There is no road direction sign to
the cemetery, but Monasteries surround the cemetery on three sides.
Historical Information:
Rangoon War Cemetery was first used as a burial ground
immediately following the recapture of Rangoon in May 1945. Later, the Army
Graves Service moved in graves from several burial sites in and around Rangoon,
including those of the men who died in Rangoon Jail as prisoners of war. There
are now 1,381 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or
commemorated in this cemetery. 86 of the burials are unidentified and there are
special memorials to more than 60 casualties whose graves could not be precisely
located. In 1948, the graves of 36 Commonwealth servicemen who died in Rangoon
during the First World War were moved into this cemetery, 35 of them from
Rangoon Cantonment Cemetery and one from Rangoon (Pazundaung) Town Cemetery.
No. of
Identified Casualties:
1341 |
