This is the second short post about Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries visited during a recent visit to India with ‘The Forgotten War Tour’ led by Dr. Robert Lyman MBE and organised by Bertie Alexander of Sampan Travel. (See the posts about Kolkata and Digboi).
Kohima War Cemetery was constructed on the site of the terraced grounds of the residence of the Deputy Commissioner[1] of the Naga Hills, on the slopes below what became known as Garrison Hill during the Battle of Kohima.
The cemetery was designed by C. St. C. R. Oakes, an Advisory Architect to the Imperial War Graves Commission (later Principal Architect) who had served with 72nd Infantry Brigade in the Arakan, for which he had been appointed an M.B.E.[2] A unique aspect of its design was the incorporation of the Deputy Commissioner’s tennis court, around which fierce fighting had taken place in April and May 1944.
The inscription inside the shelter at the base of the Cross of Sacrifice reads:
HERE AROUND THE TENNIS COURT OF THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LIE MEN WHO FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE OF KOHIMA IN WHICH THEY AND THEIR COMRADES FINALLY HALTED THE INVASION OF INDIA BY THE FORCES OF JAPAN IN APRIL 1944
Buried here are 1,420 Commonwealth war dead, of whom 125 are unidentified. A further 917 Hindu and Sikh soldiers who were cremated in accordance with their faith are commemorated on the Kohima Cremation Memorial
The missing from the battles in the region are amongst those commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial.[3]
There are eight Royal Signals all ranks buried at Kohima, five of who were killed during the battle, and three who died in hospital in Kohima or elsewhere in the region at other times:
3603687 Signalman FRED HOUGHTON BOYD
2nd Divisional Signals
Killed in action on 12 June 1944 during the latter stages of the Battle of Kohima. Continue reading