Tyne Cot (Tyne Cottage, the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers) is the largest British Military cemetery overseas, although it also includes Allied graves. It is built on the site of German Pill Boxes and the Remembrance Cross is constructed over one of these, with a piece of it still showing. Two others can be seen among the graves. There are nearly 12,000 graves, of which 8,000 are of unknown dead. Sometimes the Regiment is known, but often it is not. There are also 35,000 names of the Missing carved on the curved and panelled walls at the rear. Seeing the tributes to those killed, in the form of Remembrance crosses and messages, placed by descendant relatives no doubt, is quite moving. Here too, a new Visitors Centre has been built and it too drives home the message of the many young people lost, with their names being read out, with age where known, over a public address system while you are walking around it.
What also left an impression on me was the gruesome and extensive work that was required after the War to recover the remains of so many and rebury them in these well-tended graveyards. It is a tribute to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that these cemeteries (about 1,000 of them) remain in such good condition today, and long may it continue.
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