Talk of war graves conjures up images of lines of crosses in France. But many heroes are buried closer to home, and often forgotten. Mark Tallentire reports.

WHEN people talk about war graves, most people think these places are all in France, Belgium and places like that.

Click here to find out which remembrance services and events are happening across the region

We want people to be aware we do have war graves here in the UK.”

So says Stephen Liversage, supervisor for the North-East and Cumbria at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) – the group responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of members of Commonwealth forces killed during the two world wars.

Worldwide, the group is responsible for 1.7 million burials and commemorations in 153 countries.

The biggest number of those are in France.

Perhaps surprisingly, the UK is second, with 300,000 graves at 12,000 sites.

Many are remembered in large, well-recognised cemetery plots, such as Stonefall, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, the resting place for more than 1,000 war dead.

Farther north, Bishopwearmouth Cemetery, in Sunderland, is home to 416, arranged around a stark memorial cross.

But thousands of others are hidden in ones and twos at remote town and village graveyards, perhaps only visited occasionally by remaining descendants.

However, they are not forgotten by the CWGC. The commission has a responsibility to maintain all graves, in foreign field or home, to the same standard, and inspects each grave every three years.

And now they hope to turn the tide of forgetfulness.

Last week, the commission launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of world war victims buried in the UK.

The scheme will result in information boards being placed in cemeteries across the country, with the first 100 in the North-East.

Speaking at the launch, at Bishopwearmouth Cemetery, Mr Liversage said: “This is the first one. Sunderland City Council will then be doing the other sites in Sunderland – and we have also got work starting on 70 in County Durham.

“We only work on world war graves. But there has been an increase in the public desire to honour people’s sacrifice – probably because of what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Asked why he believes it is so important to honour the dead by keeping their graves tidy, Mr Liversage said: “It is about what they have done for us.

“I have worked for the commission for 30 years, I am very proud of what I am doing and I intend to carry on doing it until I can’t any more.

“We need to honour the memory of the sacrifice previous generations have made for us.

We are very proud of what they did for us. They sacrificed a heck of a lot. It is something we have to do. It’s a no-brainer. How can we not do it?”

HARRY TRUEMAN, deputy leader of Sunderland City Council, has more reason than many for supporting the campaign.

His son served in the forces, finishing in Bosnia.

He said: “The campaign’s fantastic. It is very important to ensure the graves are in a good state and people know about them.

“We have men now who have seen war and the results of war, and that brings it home to the younger children.

“More than ‘my grandfather was in the war’, it’s now ‘my uncle was in the war’ or ‘my brother died in war’.

“We need to keep the children aware of this – not to give them the gore of war, but remember what people have given to protect their future.

We have to remember.”

Behind where Coun Trueman is speaking looms Bishopwearmouth Cemetery’s memorial cross. Only yards away lies a fine example of North-East heroism.

Sunderland-born Bombardier Henry Herbert Reed, of the Royal Artillery, was posthumously awarded the George Cross for “gallant and utterly selfless action” in 1941, months after he died defending his merchant ship, the SS Cormount, from attack by a German E-boat.

Under enemy fire and badly wounded, Gunner Reed rescued his chief officer, carried him down two ladders to the deck below and placed him in a shelter near a lifeboat.

Minutes later, he died of his injuries. Despite being hit by an air-launched torpedo, the ship survived the attack.

Also at the launch was Kevan Jones. As well as being Labour MP for North Durham and a former veterans’ minister, Mr Jones is a CWGC commissioner.

He said: “People are quite aware of the large war grave cemeteries in France and on the Continent. This project tries to highlight the fact there are thousands in this country as well.

“The commission keeps these graves to the same standard as the ones in France and Belgium.

“Signs will be erected to remind people these cemeteries are in their own communities too.

“People do not know they are there. The idea of this project is to make people aware the graves are there – in their own communities, many of them remembering people from those communities.”

For more information on the campaign, visit cwgc.org