CAIRO – 31May 2017: Grandchildren of Commonwealth and French soldiers still visit the Port Said War Memorial Cemetery in Port Said, where the victims of the two world wars are buried.
Appointed by the British embassy, Mohamed Mohsen oversees the cemetery and receives visitors from all over the world, he said. The cemetery is open Saturday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The main entrance to the cemetery
The Egyptian government gifted three feddans in Port Said to permanently host the bodies of the Allies who were killed in 1914 and 1918, added Mohsen, who inherited the job 25 years ago from his father.
A gravestone of a Muslim British soldier
The city was an important hospital centre during World War I, and during World War II, it was a sector headquarters for the fighter defense of the canal. Most of the burials from this period were made from the hospitals and a transit camp in the area, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Register of cemetery visitors
There are 1,094 graves in the cemetery, 983 of which date back to World War I. They includes 457 Britons, 65 Australians, 11 New Zealanders, eight Indians, three Indians from Western UK, 437 French, one Serbian and one American, Mohsen said.
A cross at the cemetery>
World War II graves include 111 soldiers; 101 British, a Canadian, three Australians, Four South Africans, one from Eastern Africa and one from Western Africa, he added.
Gravestones at the cemetery>
The graveyard in Port Said is one of 16 in Cairo, Alexandria, Alamein, Fayed in Ismailia, and Aswan, according to Mohsen.
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