Grave Locations - Yemen
Total Australian commemorations in Yemen: 14
RED - this indicates those cemeteries that have been completed.
BLUE - this indicates those cemeteries that have been offered for completion
BLACK - this indicates those cemeteries that have yet to be completed.
Status Current as of the 13th April 2008
Cemetery/Memorial |
No.
|
Type
|
Volunteer |
Status |
MAALA CEMETERY
|
14
|
WW2
|
Simon Warwick & Jonathon Wilkins
|
Complete
|
CEMETERY DETAILS
MAALA CEMETERY, Yemen
Location:
Maala lies on the Southern side of Aden Harbour, halfway between the Steamer Point and Crater on the main road south of Khromasksar Airport. The Cemetery is located south of the main road to Crater. Within the cemetery, on the central avenue beyond the Cross of Sacrifice, stand the Maala Memorials. The names are inscribed on panels inserted on three sides of a stone pillar which forms part of a memorial seat and which also incorporates the Register box. This Memorial (Maala Memorial No.1) commemorates 65 soldiers who died in or near Yemen during the 1939-1945 War; 33 men of the Indian Forces who were cremated, and 32 who lie buried in graves which could not be located or maintained, of whom 27 soldiers belonged to the United Kingdom Forces and five to the Forces of East and West Africa and of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. A later extension on the western side of the Maala Memorial (Maala Memorial No.2) commemorates ten servicemen of the 1914-1918 War and one airman of the 1939-1945 War who were buried at North Point Christian Cemetery, Kamaran Island and Perim Cemetery, Perim Island. Kamaran and Perim are remote places at the southern end of the Red Sea, and these eleven graves can no longer be maintained. The airman served with No. 203 Squadron, Royal Air Force, which was based at Aden at the outbreak of the 1939-1945 War.
Historical Information:
Maala lies in the Aden Peninsula on the southern side of Aden Harbour, half-way between Steamer Point and Crater and on the main road south of Khormaksar Airport. The cemetery is located south of the main road to Crater. It was used for the burial of Christian servicemen and civilians in the period of the British administration and contains graves of both world wars. Most of the servicemen of the 1914-1918 War buried here lost their lives in the defence of Aden against the Turks. There are war burials of the 1939-1945 War in Maala Cemetery. Most of those buried in other parts of Yemeni territory, whose graves could not be maintained, were later transferred to this cemetery. Aden was a naval and air base of vital importance during the war. The cemetery is surrounded on four sides by a wall. The entrance, on the northern side, leads to the central avenue, and half-way along stands the Cross of Sacrifice at the intersection of two paths. The war graves, which are scattered in the different denominational plots among those of civilians, are marked by headstones or private memorials and surrounded by kerbs filled with coral chippings. Many of the graves of the 1914-1918 War have also been kerbed in conformity with the general design of the cemetery. Facing the Cross of Sacrifice towards the end of the main avenue stands a memorial, known as the Maala Memorial, commemorating soldiers of the 1939-1945 War who were either cremated or buried elsewhere in Yemeni territory. On its west side is a further memorial commemorating servicemen of the 1914-1918 War and one airman of the 1939-1945 War whose graves at North Point Christian Cemetery, Kamaran Island and Perim Cemetery can no longer be maintained.
(Information: Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
Please contact the Archive Director for details and photographic requirements
australianwargraves@bigpond.com