THE YPRES TIMES
SANCTUARY WOOD. (Photo taken ig ig.)
shell, and the Union Jack is immediately laid over it. The Colonel-in-charge and
all of us who are present stand silently at the salute whilst the fallen hero's body
is borne upon a stretcher by two ex-soldiers to the exhumation wagon that is to
carry him to his final resting-place in the nearest concentration cemetery.
It is a sad and painful task, yet all engaged upon it account it a privilege to
assist in its performance and volunteer to live in exile in order that the remains of
our gallant dead may be honoured and their memories kept green.
Last year 3,200 bodies were recovered from isolated graves on the Western
front, and were reburied in twenty-three British cemeteries. Of that number 432
were definitely identified at the time of exhumation, and others have been identified
since through search of the records at the London offices. The next-of-kin are
immediately notified when identification is definite.
H. B.
The bodies recovered have been buried in individual graves in Sanctuary
Wood Cemetery, which is now one of the few remaining British concentration
cemeteries in Belgium. Above each grave will be set up a Portland headstone,
bearing the inscription: A Soldier of the British Army. Killed in the Great
War. Known unto God." This will be surmounted by the regimental badge
where the unit has been identified.
Reverential Care.
I only wish that it were possible for bereaved relatives to witness the rever
ential care that is extended to these tragic remains by the members of our exhuma
tion parties. Upon removal from the soil each body is placed in a separate wooden
