In January 2014 I travelled to Burma (Myanmar) for a family wedding. I knew whilst I was there though, that I must pay my respects to the men that who fought in horrific conditions and against terrible terrain in one of the most harrowing campaigns of the Second World War.

As you would expect from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Taukkyan War Cemetery was beautiful. Its design and features reflect the nature of Burma's weather, that is to say, extremely hot! Even though we were visiting in winter time, it was 35 degrees Celsius. The stones were thus small black blocks and the grass long, thick and well watered.

This cemetery is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma. It wasn't able to be started until 1951 due to the continued unrest in Burma after the war. In this interim period, many graves had been lost but several hundred graves were retrieved from scattered positions throughout the country and brought together here.

The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified. In the 1950s, the graves of 52 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War were brought into the cemetery from the following cemeteries where permanent maintenance was not possible: Henzada (1); Meiktila Cantonment (8); Thayetmyo New (5); Thamakan (4); Mandalay Military (12) and Maymyo Cantonment (22). Taukkyan War Cemetery also contains: The Rangoon Memorial, which bears the names of almost 27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns in Burma and who have no known grave.

Here are some of my pictures of this memorable day.