Questions
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government in which conflicts since the end of the First World War there have been British military fatalities; how many British fatalities occurred in each; and whether they keep details of those killed. [HL6094]
The number of British military fatalities for the First and Second World War is held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Ministry of Defence holds records on fatalities from 1948, with the exception of fatalities on operation in Palestine where MoD records start from 1945. Conflict has been defined as operations for which campaign medals have been awarded. The number of British military fatalities by conflict is as follows:
Medal Theatre Date Number fatalities Palestine 3 September 1945 to 30 June 1948 771 Malaya 16 June 1948 to 31 July 1960 1,443 Yangtze 20 April 1949 to 31 July 1949 45 Korea 27 June 1950 to 27 July 1954 1,149 Canal Zone 16 October 1951 to 19 October 1954 403 Kenya 21 October 1952 to 17 November 1956 94 Cyprus 1 April 1955 to 18 April 1959 361 Near East (Suez) 31 October 1956 to 22 December 1956 24 Arabian Peninsula 1 January 1957 to 30 June 1960 59 Congo 10 July 1960 to 30 June 1964 2 Brunei 8 December 1962 to 23 December 1962 7 Borneo 24 December 1962 to 11 August 1966 160 Cyprus UNIFCYP1 27 March 1964 to present 1 Radfan 25 April 1964 to 31 July 1964 13 South Arabia 1 August 1964 to 30 November 1967 160 Malay Peninsula 17 August 1964 to 11 August 1966 39 Northern Ireland 14 August 1969 to 31 July 2007 655 Dhofar 1 October 1969 to 3 September 1976 25 Rhodesia 1 December 1979 to 20 March 1980 5 South Atlantic (Falklands) 2 April 1982 to 12 July 1982 237 Gulf 1 2 August 1990 to 7 March 1991 44 Air Operations Iraq 16 July 1991 to 30 April 2003 5 Cambodia (UN) 1 October 1991 to 30 September 1993 1 Sierra Leone 5 May 2000 to 31 July 2002 5 Afghanistan2 11 September 2001 to present 232 Balkans2 3 1 July 1992 to present 72 Iraq2 20 January 2003 to present 178
1. as at 31 December 2008
2. as at 10 November 2009
3. includes the Former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo Airlift (UN), Georgia (UN), Kosovo and Macedonia
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ask the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to memorialise those members of the British Armed Forces who died in conflicts since the end of the First World War; and whether they will assist relatives to find out details of their deaths and burials. [HL6095]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an independent, internationally funded body, established by royal charter, which defines the commission’s dates for commemoration. Her Majesty's Government have no direct control over its activities and we have no plans to propose an extension of the charter.
Before the First World War and during the inter world war years, the burying of the deceased was traditionally a function of the ship, regiment or unit to which they belonged or of the individual's family. No formal assistance was offered by the then Admiralty, War Office or Air Ministry, and over the succeeding years only a limited number of such graves have been maintained by the Ministry of Defence. These are usually in a military cemetery funded by the Ministry of Defence, where failure to maintain all the graves to the same standard would detract from the overall appearance of the cemetery.
With effect from 1 January 1948, UK Armed Forces personnel who die in service are provided, subject to their next of kin's agreement, with a suitable funeral and military headstone and their grave maintained in perpetuity through the Ministry of Defence. In addition, there is the Armed Forces Memorial (AFM), which is located at the National Memorial Arboretum and commemorates some 16,000 service personnel who were killed or who have died on active service or as a result of terrorist action since 1 January 1948.
Rolls of honour that record all known service personnel who have died while in service will be placed in the Church of St Martin in the Fields for the Royal Navy, the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea for the Army and the Church of St Clement Danes in the Strand for the Royal Air Force. Their details can already be found on the Armed Forces Memorial website at the following link: http://www.forcesmemorial. org.uk/roll-of-honour.asp.