Commonwealth War Memorial

When I was 18 (1984) and a FSGT in the ATC in the UK I was offered the opportunity to travel to RAF GATOW in West Berlin. This was 24 years ago, and for me an opportunity to make good on a promise I made to revisit the Commonwealth Was Memorial.

This is one of the few places that has not changed in the intervening years. I arrived at around 10:30am had apart from a gardener I had the whole place to myself.

There are over 3000 people buried here, including about 240+ Australian Airmen.
I have to admit to being a little emotional during my visit. It's hard to imagine the ravages and horrors of war in such a serean environment.

Some body with the same surname as me. Unlikely to be related.


Many graves are marked in the following manner.
Some body with the same surname as me. Unlikely to be related.

They also buried other Allied personnel.

The entrance to the cemetery.
Most of the people buried here are in the early to mid 20's. There are some into there early 30's. The highest ranks I saw were Squadron Leader and Major. It's not that there are not other higher ranks, just that I did not see them.