Apologies if this has been covered before. In St Ninian's Catholic churchyard, Wooler, Northumberland, there are the graves of two Polish officers, one in the Polish Army and the other in the Polish Resettlement Corps. Both are listed by CWGC. Is this normal? I thought that Polish servicemen buried in the UK had their own standardised headstones and weren't listed on the CWGC database. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1&sort=name&order=asc
Hello Berenice Germans Dutch and others now listed http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/58021-non-commonwealth-nationals-on-cwgc/ regards Clive
Hello Berenice, Until very recently it was very nearly impossible to get information about Polish graves maintained by the CWGC - but they did maintain them. The only way you could normally get information was if they were trying to flog you a photograph of the grave stone. Now, there is a separate section on the database for non-Commonwealth burials. The headstones ARE different and DO bear Polish logos. To be fair, they have been complacent about giving out information but they have always maintained the graves - which, I suppose, is the most important thing.
Many thanks for clearing that up. It's good to see that foreign nationals' graves are being recorded properly.
Since you are in Wooler area (civilised country), I presume these men were from the Morpeth area in terms of military location. Are either of them ex-Air Force?
Did you ever ask them about Polish graves? I know a few who got Spreadsheets of German nationals for asking. Their photographic 'Partner' would be OK by me if it was a registered charity rather than a private pocket. Incidentally some nationalities have not given permission for their data to be visible, France, being one, has probably the highest number of burials but there are a few others.
I was only passing through Wooler (I live in North Lancashire) but a Polish co-worker looked at my photos of the inscriptions today and neither grave has any mention of the Air Force.
Hello Berenice example Polsh Air Force chap .Headstone only states Polish Forces 83 GSU ,83 Group support unit WLODARSKI, ALFRED KRZYSZTOF Rank: Kapral Date of Death: 14/07/1944 Regiment/Service: Polish Air Force Grave Reference: Section N Grave 117 PR. Cemetery: HARROW (EASTCOTE LANE) CEMETERY
