Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery (ත්‍රිකුණාමලය පොදුරාජ්‍ය යුද සොහොන් පිටිය)

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World War II British War Cemetery at Trincomalee –
“Trincomalee War Cemetery” by Anton 17 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

There are four Commonwealth war cemeteries found in Sri Lanka. Two are located in Colombo, one is in Kandy, the country’s hill capital and one is in Trincomalee. The Department of National Botanic Gardens maintains these four cemeteries with funding from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Additional Commonwealth war burials are found in the Nuwara Eliya Holy Trinity Churchyard (3 gravestones), Jawatte Muslim Cemetery (27 gravestones), Kuppiyawatte Muslim Cemetery (25 gravestones), and Kandy Mahaiyawa Cemetery (3 gravestones) ¹.

The Trincomalee cemetery was originally the Combined Services Cemetery but was taken over by the Admiralty from the military authorities in April 1948 for use as a permanent naval cemetery. On the withdrawal of United Kingdom Forces from Ceylon it became the property of the Ceylon Government and is today maintained by the Department of National Botanic Gardens on behalf of the Ministry of Defense on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The cemetery records 314 World War II causalities¹. Save for a few post-war and non-war graves it is purely a war cemetery, and service war graves were transferred to it from Trincomalee (St. Mary) Churchyard; Trincomalee (St. Stephen’s) Cemetery, Kottadi Cemetery, Jaffna; and Vavuiyna Combined Cemetery. A special memorial commemorates a naval man buried in Trincomalee (St. Stephen’s) Cemetery whose grave could not be found.

The non-war graves are those of men of the Merchant Navy whose death was not due to war service, and of civilians, of whom some were employees of the Admiralty; while the post-war graves were dependents of servicemen, civilian employees of the Admiralty and dependents of such employees.

This cemetery is located on the Trincomalee – Nilaveli Road ( B424) approx 5 km from Trincomalee (railway station). The visiting hours are 9 AM to 4.30 PM.

References

Cwgc. (n.d.). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved June 19, 2024, from https://www.cwgc.org/

Also See

Map of Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery

Please click on the button below to load the Dynamic Google Map (ගූගල් සිතියම් පහලින්)

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Travel Directions to Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery

Route from Trincomalee to Commonwealth War Cemetery

Through : Nilaweli Road
Distance : 5 km
Travel time : 10 minutes
Driving directions : see on google map

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References

Also See

Map of Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery

Travel Directions to Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery

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