The day involved tours of both the Commonwealth War Commission’s Brookwood Military Cemetery and the American Military Cemetery.

About Brookwood Military Cemetery

Owned by the War Graves Commission, Brookwood is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the United Kingdom, covering approximately 37 acres.

In 1917, an area of land in Brookwood Cemetery (The London Necropolis) was set aside for the burial of men and women of the forces of the Commonwealth and Americans, who had died, many of battle wounds, in the London district.

This site was further extended to accommodate the Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War.

Brookwood Military Cemetery now contains 1,601 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 3,476 from the Second World War.

Our guided tour

Throughout our extensive cemetery tour, Martin our tour guide brought the past to life. Stopping at certain graves, he shared specific details and intimate stories, ensuring the individuals resting there were remembered not just as names, but as people.

Here are a few facts we picked up:

1. A plot in the west corner of the cemetery contains approximately 2,400 Canadian graves of the Second World War including those of 43 men who died of wounds following the Dieppe Raid in August 1942.
    
2. There is a large Royal Air Forces section in the south-east corner of the cemetery (which also contains the graves of Czechoslovakian and American airmen who served with the Royal Air Force) and the Air Forces shelter building nearby houses the register of the names of those buried in the section.
    
3. Of the Second World War burials 5 are unidentified, 3 being members of the R.A.F. and 2 being members of the R.C.A.F.

Whilst, the aim of the day wasn't work related, I am sure our veteran tour guides were secretly storing ideas up for their next RMAS tour!

For more information on Brookwood Military Cemetery and details on booking tours please visit the Commonwealth War graves Commission website.

Alternatively, to see our Tour Guides in action, please book a Historical Tour with the Sandhurst Trust