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Introduction I Repatriation I The Royal Navy I Contemporary British Government Policy on Wrecks I San Carlos I

Repatriation / Funerals

Until the late 1960’s, when repatriation of bodies to allow a privately funded funeral in the UK was introduced, the policy of Her Majesty's Government was that Service personnel who died overseas should be buried close to where they fell. Up to that date, funeral arrangements for a deceased Serviceman overseas would have been a matter for the formation concerned and burial would have taken place locally with no relatives present. Now, if a Serviceman or Servicewoman dies overseas, the remains may be repatriated and buried in a cemetery chosen by the family at military expense. However, the next of kin are still (in non operational theatres) given the choice of local burial or repatriation, and if they choose local burial, they may be transported to attend the funeral at public expense.

Repatriation of the remains of British service personnel is carried out from many countries, not just operational theatres, by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC). If the serviceman or woman is of non UK origin, the body will, at the family’s request, be transported to the country of birth. Most repatriations are carried out in a dignified manner at civil or military airfields with no ceremony, but the repatriation of those who die on operations does now usually involve a ceremony.  It is an integral component of the ethos of the British Armed Forces, that the relevant arm of Service, regiment, or corps has the opportunity to honour a fallen member of its own 'family'. The provision of bearers from the appropriate Service to remove the coffin from the aircraft with ceremony and place it in the hearse fulfils this requirement. Whilst the repatriation is a military event, relatives of the deceased are invited to witness the ceremony.

In recent years Royal Air Force Lyneham in Wiltshire, had been the reception point for bodies repatriated from operational theatres. However, with the imminent closure of Lyneham, from September 2011the role will be undertaken once again by RAF Brize Norton, which hosted such events up to 2006/7. The number of coffins repatriated at any one time will be determined by operational circumstances but wherever possible numbers are kept to a minimum to ensure that the ceremony is not over long. Coffins are brought off the aircraft in an order that reflects the seniority of the Services (i.e. Royal Navy, Army, and then Royal Air Force) and regiments / formations involved rather than rank of the deceased. Appropriate military personnel are on hand to ensure that families are sensitively supported at what is often an emotional event. The deceased are then taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.  

Anyone who dies in military service is entitled to a service funded funeral with full military honours, but if the family prefer they may arrange a private funeral and receive a grant from the JCCC.  If the family elect to receive a military funeral, the JCCC will also offer to provide a military pattern headstone or urn plot marker to place on the grave or an entry in the crematorium book of remembrance if a cremation takes place and ashes are retained or scattered. 

Maintenance of Graves

Military pattern headstones erected since 1January 1948 are maintained in perpetuity by the MOD under arrangements put in place by the JCCC, provided the individual concerned received a service funded funeral and MoD continues to own the grave plot. Maintenance standards for cemeteries containing Service graves are laid down in a technical bulletin which is revised from time to time.  The MoD does not maintain headstones where the family own the plot, or have asked to maintain the graves themselves. Likewise, the MoD does not maintain the graves of those veterans who die after leaving the armed forces

Graves of military personnel who died in, or immediately after, the First and Second World Wars are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

As no formal assistance was offered by the Admiralty or War Office for those who died before the First World War only a small number of such graves are maintained by the MoD (usually these are graves in a designated military cemetery). Likewise for those who died between the two world wars only those graves bearing a military pattern headstone are now maintained at public expense.