'Decommissioned' veterans' graves.
Government issued headstones destroyed. A little known process that occurred in Australia.
More information will be added to this page in due course.
Yes we forget: soldiers' graves lie neglected. The resting places of World War I soldiers should be restored,
writes Mike Sweet. November 10, 2013
https://www.smh.com.au/national/yes-we-forget-soldiers-graves-lie-neglected-20131109-2x8qb.html
"The only identifying feature on Dickson's grave - which has no headstone or plaque - is a small metal plate held in place by two rusting screws. It is stamped with a barely legible initial and surname (dirt needs to be rubbed into it to make out the lettering) - along with date of death. There is no reference to his war service."
When the graves of our war dead were desecrated – to save the government money. By Tony Wright. January 27, 2024
“Sometime during the middle of last century, workers were sent with sledgehammers and chisels to cemeteries across Australia with orders to remove such headstones. It was known as a “decommissioning” process, undertaken by what was known as the ANZAC Office of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The office no longer exists. It was replaced in 1975 by the Office of Australian War Graves, which has not undertaken such “decommissioning”. “The headstones were smashed on site, so these graves no longer came under the care of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” says Carl Johnson, a military historian and author. Their names and details of those cemeteries were given a new place of commemoration on wall panels at a Garden of Remembrance. It accorded with the policy of the Office of Australian War Graves of having a “single place of commemoration” for the war dead. “We want the tin plates removed from these graves and the identity and dignity of all World War I soldiers restored to their place of interment, wherever they are,” says Lambis Englezos. “They volunteered, put on the uniform and served. That should be sufficient to have them properly recognised where they lie. They are entitled to identity and dignity. All of them.”
The images below are of one such WWI ‘decommissioned’ headstone in Lutwyche Cemetery. Note the marble military headstone that once stood proudly on the grave of Private Robert Gray 2126, 4th Pioneer Battalion. It was ‘decommissioned’ (removed and likely smashed) and replaced with a tin tag on his grave bearing his initial, surname and date of death, and a plaque in the Qld Garden of Remembrance.
