I thought this may be of some help to those who have previously looked up information on the CWGC site for a particular person. It’s worth looking again as the update of the CWGC website last month, now includes the CWGC Archive Online which can in some cases give more information as to where a soldier was initially laid to rest. One of my granddad’s brothers is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial as he has no known grave. However there is a “concentration” document which details the work of the recovery teams after the war where bodies were disinterred from either small cemeteries or from the battlefield to be reinterred in the cemeteries we see today. In the case of my granddad’s brother he had a grave and it was marked by a cross and there is a map reference (army map reference). Unfortunately no body was found by the recovery team hence his name being remembered at Tyne Cot. This I suppose could have been for a number of reasons, the grave may have been destroyed by subsequent battles for instance or the grave marker may just have moved due to battle action etc. The grid reference does not have the granularity to pinpoint an exact point, only a small area.
In the case above, the war diary happens to include a trench map for this area and I can see that he was buried just outside the trench where he was waiting in reserve to join in an attack the day after his death.
It somehow seems satisfying to know that he was buried properly (although in haste) and may still be at rest in this place.
Simon
