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Old 25th August 2017, 16:10
rafcommands rafcommands is offline
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Re: Graveyard decisions

Many and various is the short answer.

Overseas and UK fatality different as was war and peace.

For UK - wartime
If possible the NoK was contacted for wishes.

Some opted to have body or ashes transported and buried local to family.

If NoK could not be contacted or they opted for service burial then the local unit who could provide a bearer party was charged with the duty.

On established stations they had a local RAF burial plot and this could be used until capacity reached but most used a local churchyard of the correct denonimation.

On busy stations some burial duties were refused due to the moral problems of constant burial parties raising mortality issues with surviving crews.

I have an ATA burial local to me that died in an adjacent parish, where the NoK could not be contacted but instead of being taken to burial close to the nearest RAF station or in the parish of death, the RAF conceded to the wishes of adjacent parish for the airman to be interred locally and for the town to look after the grave.

Another point to watch is post war concentration burials where scattered graves were exhumed and taken to a central cemetery for reburial - Cannock Chase is mostly made up of reburials for German Forces.

Ross
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