Location Information
Taukkyan War Cemetery is in Taukkyan town in the township of Mingaladon, Yangon greater area, on the main highway No 1 Pyay Road. From the centre of the city of Yangon, it is 21 miles north and 11 miles from the international airport, 45 minutes drive from the centre of Rangoon and 24 minutes from the International airport. Exact location of the cemetery is North (17º02’08.24″) and East (96º07’55.28″).
Visiting Information
Wheelchair access to the site is possible, but may be via an alternative entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on 01628 507200.
Historical Information
Taukkyan War Cemetery is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma (now Myanmar). It was begun in 1951 for the reception of graves from four battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw which were difficult to access and could not be maintained. The last was an original ‘Chindit’ cemetery containing many of those who died in the battle for Myitkyina. The graves have been grouped together at Taukkyan to preserve the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries
Burials were also transferred from civil and cantonment cemeteries, and from a number of isolated jungle and roadside sites. Because of prolonged post-war unrest, considerable delay occurred before the Army Graves Service were able to complete their work, and in the meantime many such graves had disappeared. However, when the task was resumed, several hundred more graves were retrieved from scattered positions throughout the country and brought together here.
The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified.
In the 1950s, the graves of 52 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War were brought into the cemetery from the following cemeteries where permanent maintenance was not possible: Henzada (1); Meiktila Cantonment (8); Thayetmyo New (5); Thamakan (4); Mandalay Military (12) and Maymyo Cantonment (22).
