BOMBARDIER WILLIAM J SWETMAN
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
2ND AUGUST 1917 AGE 29
BURIED: BELGIAN BATTERY CORNER CEMETERY, WEST-VLAANDEREN, BELGIUM
Mrs Swetman expressed a regret that was common to so many families. The decision not to repatriate the bodies of soldiers - actually, it goes further than that - the decision to forbid the repatriation of soldiers' bodies, caused families much extra grief, but the War Graves Commission was intransigent. They did not want there to be any division between those who could afford to repatriate their relation's and those who couldn't. This was one of the reasons they would not allow private headstones in their cemeteries - all the dead were to be treated equally, regardless of wealth, rank or social status.