Taukkyan Memorial

The TAUKKYAN MEMORIAL commemorates 45 servicemen of both wars who died and were buried elsewhere in Burma (now Myanmar) but whose graves could not be maintained. The 19 First World War casualties commemorated on this memorial served in garrisons and lie buried in the following cemeteries: Aungban Cemetery; Bassein Church of England Cemetery; Diamond Island Cof E Cemetery; Kungyangon Cemetery; Lwekaw Cemetery; Mangthone Military Grave; Prome Government Cemetery; Pyinmana Cemetery; Shwebo Cantonment Cemetery. The memorial stands in TAUKKYAN WAR CEMETERY, which is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma. It was begun 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 Taukkyan 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 RANGOON 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. The TAUKKYAN CREMATION MEMORIAL, which commemorates more than 1,000 Second World War casualties who died in campaigns in Burma whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith.