on our way down from nay pyi taw, and a little over 30 km short of reaching yangon , we stopped by at the taukkyan war cemetery. this cemetery is dedicated to the soldiers of the ‘british commonwealth’ who lost their lives during world war II in myanmar and assam.
the cemetery is divided into several parts. at the centre is the long pillared rangoon memorial which bears the names of almost 27,000 men who died during the campaigns and who have no known graves
the inscription at the centre of this memorial says, 'here are recorded the names of twenty seven thousand soldiers of many races united in service to the british crown who gave their lives in burma and assam but to whom the fortune of war denied the customary rites accorded to their comrades in death’
on either side from this round pavilion are arms that have twin rows of marble pillars with names of these over 26000 dead men inscribed in them from top to bottom.
so many of these pillars contained names of dead nepali soldiers… rows upon rows of sons of nepal who gave their lives in foreign land... for foreign masters... probably in steaming jungles… far away from home.. and not having the fortune for a decent burial or cremation… no tears shed by loving ones...
when there was one too many of the same name they seemed to have distinguished between individuals trough their i.d. numbers.. the list of man bahadurs, for example, was pretty long…
in the front and back of the rangoon memorial were 5559 grave markers…
…each one with a little plant growing by its side, lovingly weeded and pruned by the caretakers...
most of the graves were of christian soldiers.. with short epitaphs from their loving family members… like this one of t. millington…
… and then of course there were so many with the khukuri insignia with ‘om bhagbate namah’ inscribed on the top, of the nepali boys.. the website with the roll of honour of the taukkyan war cemetery (http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Cemeteries/Taukkyan_War_Cemetery/html/roll_1939-1945.htm) says bom bahadur bogti who died on 12th march 1945, was the son of mana maya of chisankhu in nepal
the most poignant grave of all was of a lad named chyangrey thapa .. but 17. the website’s roll of honour cites: “CHYANGREY THAPA, Rifleman, 45560. 4th Bn. 4th Prince of Wales' Own Gurkha Rifles. 6th April 1945. Age 17. Son of Khadke and Jasmaya, of Mangaltar, Nepal. Coll. grave 34. A. 2-7.”
the cemetery is divided into several parts. at the centre is the long pillared rangoon memorial which bears the names of almost 27,000 men who died during the campaigns and who have no known graves
the inscription at the centre of this memorial says, 'here are recorded the names of twenty seven thousand soldiers of many races united in service to the british crown who gave their lives in burma and assam but to whom the fortune of war denied the customary rites accorded to their comrades in death’
on either side from this round pavilion are arms that have twin rows of marble pillars with names of these over 26000 dead men inscribed in them from top to bottom.
so many of these pillars contained names of dead nepali soldiers… rows upon rows of sons of nepal who gave their lives in foreign land... for foreign masters... probably in steaming jungles… far away from home.. and not having the fortune for a decent burial or cremation… no tears shed by loving ones...
when there was one too many of the same name they seemed to have distinguished between individuals trough their i.d. numbers.. the list of man bahadurs, for example, was pretty long…
in the front and back of the rangoon memorial were 5559 grave markers…
…each one with a little plant growing by its side, lovingly weeded and pruned by the caretakers...
most of the graves were of christian soldiers.. with short epitaphs from their loving family members… like this one of t. millington…
… and then of course there were so many with the khukuri insignia with ‘om bhagbate namah’ inscribed on the top, of the nepali boys.. the website with the roll of honour of the taukkyan war cemetery (http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Cemeteries/Taukkyan_War_Cemetery/html/roll_1939-1945.htm) says bom bahadur bogti who died on 12th march 1945, was the son of mana maya of chisankhu in nepal
the most poignant grave of all was of a lad named chyangrey thapa .. but 17. the website’s roll of honour cites: “CHYANGREY THAPA, Rifleman, 45560. 4th Bn. 4th Prince of Wales' Own Gurkha Rifles. 6th April 1945. Age 17. Son of Khadke and Jasmaya, of Mangaltar, Nepal. Coll. grave 34. A. 2-7.”
a 17 year old child, in the battlefields of burma, dying lord knows what kind of death.. merciful if it was a sudden and instantaneous one. but could have been a slow one… jasmaya’s ‘babu’ slowly losing his life force, and entering into oblivion .. far far away from her lap.. sixty six years ago. he would have been 83 today.
a look at the roll of honour in the website.. gives details of the dead nepali soldiers… where they hailed from whose son and husband they were… just a listing of all the man bahadurs there...
then behind the graves were the names of 1000 soldiers who had been fortunate enough to be cremated according to traditional rites.
... amongst them, again nepalis…
we went around.. reading the grave-markers and the names on the pillars.. feeling a sense of loss for souls who we hitherto had not known existed… these nepali boys on whom the sun set nearly seven decades ago in the heat of battle…
a look at the roll of honour in the website.. gives details of the dead nepali soldiers… where they hailed from whose son and husband they were… just a listing of all the man bahadurs there...
then behind the graves were the names of 1000 soldiers who had been fortunate enough to be cremated according to traditional rites.
... amongst them, again nepalis…
we went around.. reading the grave-markers and the names on the pillars.. feeling a sense of loss for souls who we hitherto had not known existed… these nepali boys on whom the sun set nearly seven decades ago in the heat of battle…
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