Does anyone know of a source of further information on the Sadaung Military Cemetery, Burma (Myanmar)? I`ve been searching on the web to no avail. Looking for anything such as exact locality, old photo`s and how long it stayed in use etc. I understand that Soldier`s graves were moved from here to Taukkyan not long after the war? Any help, greatly appreciated. Regards, John
THe only thing I was able to find on the net indicated that there was an RAF airstrip at Saduang & this needed to be defended at some stage in 1945. You may care to look into such formations as "Hook" force under the command of Major K.G.Hook. also the book" Only the Enemy In Front" by Richard Doherty, publshed by Tom Donovan Publishing, 1994 may help. It would appear that the cemetary was one of those specifically set up to recieve the dead from that part of the world being north west of Mandalay & half way (approx) to Shwebo. as with a lot of reburiels in Taykyaan, they came from areas that were considered unmaintainable by the CWGC & removed back to Rangoon. On further surfing & reflection, it may be that the cemetary was around for quite a while, you will note that the area is within the Chin hills region which was the subject of fighting between the British & the local tribes from the 1880's & earlier. It is likethely therfore that it is fact a cantonement cemetary set up during the Chin campaigns when the town would have been garrisoned. You would probably have to contact CWGC to see if you can peruse or obtain copies of documents & plans for Saduang cemetary if that is what you need or the India Office Archives as you would know that burma was governed from Bengal in earlier years. . Hope this is of help. Regards Simon
Simon, Thanks a lot for your help. I myself had a good look around on the Web and couldn`t find much on the cemetery at Sadaung either; although I did find quite a bit on the airstrip as you did. In my ignorance I also thought this might have been classed as the Mandalay War Cemetery as well but now find they are two completely different entities. My Grandfather seems to have been buried intially at Sadaung, then moved to Mandalay, so now I`m looking for info on both. According to the CWGC, very little exists on Saduang so it`s going to be a hard slog. My belief is that the graves here may have been moved to Mandalay fairly quickly after the war. Regards John
I have a friend who's father was with an Australian Graves registration unit, they did not muck about & were doing the job whilst guarding Jap prisoners on the THai - burma Railway. I digress. It would probably be most helpful to your cause if you can locate the files on the Graves registration unit that covered this area at the National Archives. They will at least have cemetary plans IE: where the reains were initially located within the confines. Then there are the unit diaries to look at. what unit did your grandfather serve with? (ifwith a chindit unit) there are a number of very good people here to guide you. Regards simon
Simon, He was with the 379th Battery/101st HAA R.A. There is no record in the regimental diary of his burial date, nor any at the CWGC. All I know is that initially he was buried in Sadaung. To be honest I`m desperately trying to find when he was buried and was not even aware that there were such registration units. Unfortunately I`m very new to this and have a lot of learning to do. I find searching the National Archives very hard at times as you need a good idea where to start, and that`s not always easy. John
You may be able to get some help via the "firepower museum" in London also, very helpful I am told. re CWGC you can write to them, they are also very helpful. Regards Simon
