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Additional
Information: |
Son of
James and Catherine Cowie, of Pyman St., Wheatley Hill, Co. Durham; husband
of Catherine A. Cowie, of 3, East Terrace, Station Town, Wingate, Co. Durham. |
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Cemetery:
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ETAPLES
MILITARY CEMETERY, Pas de Calais, France |
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Grave
Reference/ |
XXXI.
G. 28. |
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Location:
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Etaples is a town about 27 kilometres south of Boulogne.
The Military Cemetery is to the north of the town, on the west side of the
road to Boulogne. |
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Historical
Information: |
During
the 1914-18 war, the neighbourhood of the Cemetery became the scene of
immense concentrations of British reinforcement camps and of British
hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and it was
accessible by railway from either the northern or the southern battlefields.
In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes, and the hospitals
(which included eleven General, one Stationary and four Red Cross Hospitals
and a Convalescent Depot) could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In
September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the
Q.M.A.A.C. Convalescent Depot remained. The earliest burial in the Cemetery
dates from May 1915. There are now nearly 11,000, 1914-18 war casualties
commemorated in this site and over 100 from the 1939-45 War. The cemetery
covers an area of 59,049 square metres. The graves lie below three terraces,
the midmost of which carries the War Stone and two pylons, and the highest is
dominated by the Cross. |