War graves in the KL Civil Cemetery in Cheras

War graves at the Cheras Road cemetery.

The War Graves Photographic Project, in association with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), was set up in 2012 with the aim to photograph the graves or memorials of every military casualty worldwide since World War I.

In this way, family members who are unable to visit the graves of their loved ones due to the location can at least obtain a photo.

It was an immense task carried out by volunteer photographers, and nearly two million named graves and memorials were recorded.

Here in Malaysia, there are more than 6,500 graves in over 30 locations, which are under the care of, or are known to, the CWGC. Most of these are from World War II and from the Emergency period in Malaya.

The list also includes police casualties and dependents of military personnel. Some are in dedicated CWGC cemeteries, such as those in Taiping and Labuan, while others are in civil cemeteries.

Locating and photographing those graves in Malaysia that have not already been covered may seem a rather morbid pastime (and it is unpaid), but it was worthwhile.

As well as providing a photographic record, this work helps to correct errors or misspellings in the Ministry of Defence’s lists which might otherwise prevent genealogists from tracing their relatives.

The Kuala Lumpur cemetery at Jalan Cheras is a civil one and the CWGC graves are in a separate section, which can be seen in the photo below.

The CWGC graves are in the background behind the hedge.

Buried here are British, Indian, Gurkha, Australian, New Zealand, East African and Malaysian soldiers, sailors, airmen, police, civilians and dependents.

The Sarawak Rangers were considered the world’s best jungle trackers.

The Sarawak Rangers were a small force of Iban trackers whose jungle skills were employed to seek out Communist terrorists during the Emergency.

General Sir Gerald Templer, the commander-in-chief at the time, described the Iban as the world’s best jungle trackers.

The grave of Private JA Harrington, who died in 1946.

Venning Road cemetery

In a corner of the Jalan Cheras cemetery is a mass grave of remains moved from the former Venning Road cemetery.

When the land was redeveloped, the graves were exhumed and the remains were reburied in a single mass grave at Jalan Cheras.

The mass grave site of the former Venning Road cemetery.

Up until a few years ago, the grave was marked only by a rather undignified metal sign, which had faded and was almost illegible.

Various parties raised this issue with the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur and around 2018, a memorial was built on the site for those exhumed from Venning Road.

This new memorial is a big improvement on the old metal sign but it is a pity that there are no names of the individuals concerned.

It is possible no record was made of the graves that were exhumed, or if it was, it can no longer be found.

This article first appeared on Thrifty Traveller.

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