Tyne Cot

After a short drive following lunch, we arrived at Tyne Cot, the largest cemetery honoring soldiers of the British Commonwealth. Named for a blockhouse taken by British forces on this site--nicknamed "Tyne Cottage" after the river in North England--it is the final resting place of 11,956 British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, and other British Commonwealth soldiers.

The grounds also hold three German pillbox bunkers. And between those are seemingly endless rows of white headstones, marked with the deceased soldier's name and the emblem of his unit (such as the maple leaf of Canada). Many graves are marked simply, "A soldier of the Great War, known unto God." So sad.

In the center of the cemetery, near the tallest cross (marking the location of Tyne Cottage), you see a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of graves. In the beginning, we know the soldiers were buried where they fell.

When this cottage was a makeshift medic station during the war, the area around it became an impromptu burial ground. (In contrast, any cemetery that's neat and symmetrical--like the surrounding headstones--dates from after the war.)

Running along the top of the cemetery is a wall inscribed with the names of 34,857 "officers and men to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death."



The Belgium people still uncover burials from the war--during building construction or when fields are plowed every year. Authorities can usually determine their nationality and therefore, to which cemetery to move them, by the remains of their uniforms and/or their dog tags.