Man-made and natural challenges are highlighted in the 2003 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) annual report, published yesterday.

In his foreword, CWGC Vice Chairman Gen Sir John Wilsey speaks of a “difficult but nevertheless successful year” for the organisation, which is responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of Commonwealth Armed Forces personnel who died during the two World Wars, for building and maintaining memorials to the dead whose graves are unknown, and for providing records and registers of the burials and commemorations – a total of 1.7 million names spread across the globe.

Gen Sir John Wilsey also notes that “the unceasing work which must be carried out behind the scenes to ensure that our cemeteries and memorials remain a fitting tribute to those who fell during the two world wars has on occasion been hindered by a combination of natural and man-made problems.”

Regional conflicts has been a constant thorn in the side of the CWGC, but as tensions ease in various parts of the world then maintenance and renovation can take place – as was the case at the Hargeisa War Cemetery in Somalia, much restored after the bloody power struggle which bedevilled the country.

The report observes that “with peace restored, the cemetery has been completely renovated, with new headstones and Cross of Sacrifice, and has already hosted its first remembrance service, members of the local police force providing two saxophone players to sound the Last Post.”

Similarly, Coalition forces – particularly British and American – rolled up their sleeves and helped clear rubbish and debris from the cemeteries and memorials at Kut, Basra and Amara in Iraq after the fighting was over in Iraq earlier this year – the CWGC is responsible for more than 20,000 war graves in the country, while another 41,000 names are recorded on memorials.

But it is vandalism which blights the picture – the well-publicised graffiti at Etaples in France, where the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the country was daubed with anti-war and anti-American and British slogans sparked a response at the highest level on both sides of the Channel, with the Queen and President Chirac echoing the thoughts of millions in their condemnation of the vandalism.

But there was a rash of similar attacks closer to home – Sheffield (Burngreave) Cemetery, where motor oil was poured on to paving and a memorial, Littlehampton Cemetery, where headstones were smashed, Dartford (East Hill) Cemetery, where graffiti was scrawled on to headstones, and Portsmouth Naval Memorial, where newly-refurbished stonework was spray-painted, all suffered.

The CWGC hopes a community involvement programme, established in recent years, will start to yield benefits in terms of stronger links with schools, community groups and probation services, which in turn will help reduce acts of vandalism.

The CWGC was set up in 1917, and has a presence in 148 countries, including Chad and Cameroon in Africa, Honduras and Brazil in the Americas, Iceland and Hungary in Europe, Iran in the Middle East, and Japan, Nepal and China in the Far East.

The cost of the Commission is shared between six partner nations in proportion to the percentage of graves of each country – the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

Most cemeteries and memorials are maintained by CWGC staff, although in some countries that task is undertaken by nationals working on the Commission’s behalf, with those graves and memorials in civil cemeteries and churchyards mostly entrusted to local authorities and contractors working under agreement with the CWGC.

The Commission’s work is guided by fundamental principles established in the 1920s, including:

• That each of the dead should be commemorated individually by name either on the headstone on the grave, or by an inscription on a memorial;

• That the headstones and memorials should be permanent

• That the headstones should be uniform

• That there should be no distinction made on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.

Headstones are 81.3cm high, and at the top of each is engraved the national emblem or the Service or regimental badge, followed by the rank, name, unit, date of death, age, and – usually – a religious emblem.

At the foot, in many cases, is an inscription chosen by relatives.

In some cemeteries, notably in the Far East and the Pacific, and on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where there is a risk of earth movement, stone or bronze plaques on low pedestals are used instead of headstones.

For more information on the work of the CWGC, and to search the Commission’s database, see www.cwgc.org