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Casualty
In military terms, anyone who is killed, wounded or missing. It is even stretched in barracks to include sickness, courses, and other events, including--yes--marriage!
Cemetery Extension
The title the Commission gives to an extension to a (usually) civil cemetery for the burial of Commonwealth war dead. This in effect forms a new war cemetery, but one which is linked with the original.
Cenotaph
Sepulchral monument (literally 'empty tomb') to person whose body is elsewhere. Perhaps the best known is the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, England,which commemorates the dead of the 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 Wars. (This, and village and town cenotaphs, are not the Commission's responsibility).
Chairman of the Commission
Is ex officio the Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom (formerly Secretary of State for War).
Collective Grave
A war grave containing three or more Commonwealth war dead.
Command
In the Army, a non-operational, geographical district (eg South-Eastern Command, England); in air forces, an operational branch which performs a specific function (eg Coastal Command, Bomber Command).
Commandos
Assault troops employed in special roles. Originally a Boer term used in the Boer War.
Commemoration Book
In some cases those with no known grave are commemorated by the Commission by name in special books rather than by name on memorials; the Book is accepted as the memorial.
Commissioned Officer
See Officer
Commissioner
A member of the policy-making body of the Commission, not of its permanent, professional staff. Often referred to as a 'Member of the Commission'.
Common Grave
A grave not owned by the Commission, which contains more than one set of remains, at least one of which is of a war fatality. Common graves are not marked by the Commission, as they are often public property.
Communal Cemetery
A cemetery belonging to the commune. Many on the old Western Front contain Commonwealth war graves, either individually or in plots;many of the plots of war graves are in effect war cemeteries.
Company
A body of about 100 soldiers, commanded by a major or captain. There are four companies to a battalion. Although basically a unit of infantry, certain other branches do use the term.
Concentration
In Commission parlance, the gathering in of war dead from outlying battlefield graves and their reburial within a war cemetery.
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM)
The naval and air equivalent of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM).
Contemptible
See Old Contemptible.
Convoy
A group of merchant ships sailing together under the protection of naval forces; sometimes slow-moving, as its speed is that of the slowest vessel. The word is also used for columns of motor vehicles.
Corps
(a) Two or more divisions (it is flexible) under the command of a lieutenant general; generally between 30,000 and 60,000 all ranks.
(b) See Departmental Corps.
Crater
The hole in the ground caused by a shell, bomb, mine, etc. Can be any size from one or two feet across to hundreds of feet in diameter. Some craters were used for burials, and became Commission war graves or cemeteries. As individual marking in the latter was impossible, the names were engraved on a specially erected screen-wall.
Cremation memorial
A memorial which lists by name those whose remains were cremated in that area and whose ashes were scattered (as opposed to buried) there or elsewhere.
Cross of Sacrifice
A stone cross, which usually comes in one of four sizes, erected in Commission sites containing 40 or more war dead. However, there are cases where a Cross has been erected over the graves of a smaller number. The Cross bears a sword.
Cruiser
A fast, medium-sized warship with medium armament and armour. Often used as the mainstay of the defence of a convoy or of a patrol to safeguard shipping lanes from enemy surface ships.
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