The Cross of Sacrifice was designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield and is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. Erected by the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) or by public subcription, the Cross of Sacrifice is also found as public non-burial war memorial cenotaphs. The sword is made in bronze and is pointed downwards. In military tradition and classical art, when the sword is in an upward direction is it the symbol for war or that one was under attack. When the sword is in a downward position, like it is on the Cross of Sacrifice, it is symbolizing a time of peace.
This series includes war memorial crosses not necessarily of the Blomfield design, but not the modern Fallen Soldier Battlefield Cross (boots, rifle, helmet).
Buried here are 78 officers and men of the Royal Air Force who lost their lives whilst training in Montgomery, Alabama during the Second World War.
Nearly 1,000 men who died during that war or the First World War when serving with the forces of . . . — — Map (db m88770) HM WM
[Panel 1]:
Erected by the Government of Canada in honour of the citizens of the United States who served in the Canadian Army and gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918.
[Panel 2]:
In honour of the citizens of the . . . — — Map (db m11138) WM
English:
On December 11th, 1985, Arrow Air Flight MF1285R. a Douglas DC-8-63, US registration N95OJW departed Cairo on an international charter flight to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, USA, via Cologne, Germany and Gander, . . . — — Map (db m79477) HM
To the honoured
memory of those
who fought & fell
in the Great War
1914 — 1918
[Battles]
1915
Ypres·Festubert·Givenchy
1916
Somme·Sanctuary Wood·Courcelette
1917
Vimy Ridge·Hill 70·Lens·Passchendaele
1918 . . . — — Map (db m124565) HM
"To the honoured memory of those
sailors, soldiers and airmen
who gave their lives for their country
in two world wars and who lie buried
in this cemetery" — — Map (db m234843) WM
The Cross of Sacrifice is a common feature found in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and plots world wide. It emphasizes both the military character of the cemetery and the religious affiliation of the majority of the war . . . — — Map (db m234714) HM WM
English:
Unveiled on July 1, 1924, the Cross of Sacrifice originally honoured the memory of the Canadian soldiers killed during the Great War of 1914-1918. Over 66,000 lost their lives in the conflict. A handful of earth from Vimy, the . . . — — Map (db m80846) HM WM
As in the First World War, when the country was the base for
the earlier stages of the campaign in German East Africa, Kenya
became an important base in the Second World War - this time
in operations across her northern frontier for the . . . — — Map (db m243749) HM WM
In grateful and honoured memory of the two hundred and fifteen men of Marlow who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War 1914 - 1919
And of those who fell in the Second World War 1939 - 1945
The names of the Officers, N.C.O.'s & Men . . . — — Map (db m228394) WM
