On Friday morning, Dr Stefan Goebel from the University of Kent gave a talk to pupils at Senior House Assembly on the subject of war graves. Stefan has published extensively on the commemoration of conflict so no-one was better placed to talk on this subject ahead of the weekend’s Remembrance Day events.
Pupils learnt that what is now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was actually set up in 1917, so one year before the end of the First World War, to look after the unprecedented number of war dead. Pupils also learnt about the principles underlying the work of the Commission. These include equal treatment for all war dead, whatever their rank or status, and an emphasis on burial as near to the scene of the service person’s death as practicable.
Many service people who lost their lives in modern conflicts never enjoyed the dignity of a formal burial because it was not possible to recover their remains for various reasons. Such people are commemorated on memorials, which are often very impressive from an architectural point of view. Many countries also adopted the idea of ‘the tomb of the unknown soldier’, that is, the formal burial of a person whose remains could not be identified.
The talk ended with Stefan giving suggestions of war cemeteries nearby which pupils might visit on school trips. There were a great many questions at the end of the talk, providing clear evidence that pupils had fully understood the issues covered. They are certainly now much better informed about the ideas underlying the forthcoming Remembrance Day commemorations.
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