Guwahati: The World War –II cemetery in the heart of Guwahati city on Thursday had some high-profile visitors for a change. A ten-member delegation of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) visited Guwahati War Cemetery to pay respect to those soldiers of the Allied Forces who as Commonwealth servicemen, had laid down their lives while resisting the Axis Powers in this part of the world during the World War-II.
The Cemetery, located on the Navagraha Road in the Silpukhuri area of the city, was built during the World War-II by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). It has 512 graves of the Commonwealth servicemen of the World War-II, said Salew Pfotte, Regional Manager (NE India) of the CWGC.
He said the visit of the delegation to the Cemetery was organised by the Kolkata office of the British Deputy High Commissioner.
There are ten war cemeteries containing the graves of the Commonwealth servicemen of the World War –II in the country. Five of them are located in the NE region, while an equal number of such cemeteries are located in the rest of the country.
The NE cemeteries include – one in each of Kohima, Digboi and Guwahati and two in Imphal. The other five cemeteries are located in Kolkata, Ranchi, Delhi, Pune and Chennai.
Of all the World War –II war cemeteries in the Northeast, the one at Kohima in Nagaland receives maximum number of visitors from within the country and abroad.
