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39-649: Established in 1829, the cemetery includes a large military cemetery section for soldiers from the capital fallen in the wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany : in the Winter War (1939–1940), the Continuation War (1941–1944) and the Lapland War (1944–1945). In the centre of the military cemetery are the tombs of the unknown soldier and Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim , commander-in-chief of

78-597: A promontory , and partly directly adjacent to the Hietaniemi Beach . The cemetery is a popular tourist attraction , especially amongst Finns visiting the graves of relatives fallen in wars or the graves of the many famous Finns buried there since the 1820s. Four other cemeteries are also located at the greater cemetery district of Hietaniemi: the Helsinki Jewish cemetery, the Helsinki Islamic cemetery,

117-453: A German torpedo on 3 November 1943 while she was part of a military convoy. Those who died included Royal Navy personnel, as well as merchant seamen. Rosemary Fogg and Valerie Ledgard (the claimants), the daughters of one of the men who died, Petty Officer James Varndell RN, requested that the Ministry of Defence designate the wreck. When the Ministry of Defence refused on the grounds that this

156-469: A combat. The wreckage of United Kingdom military aircraft is also protected under the act elsewhere in the world. Wrecks are designated by name and can be designated as protected places even if the location of the site is not known. Thus, the wreckage of a British military aircraft is automatically a protected place even if the physical remains have not been previously discovered or identified. Shipwrecks need to be specifically designated, and designation as

195-525: A foreign field / That is for ever England", is a patriotic poem about the possibility of dying abroad during a war. Brooke is himself buried in a war grave on Skyros in the Aegean Sea , having died while en route to fight in the Gallipoli Campaign . The War Graves Photographic Project , founded in 2008, aims to create an archive of names and photographs of all military graves and memorials from 1914 to

234-521: A protected place applies only to vessels that sank after 4 August 1914 (the date of the United Kingdom's entry into the First World War ). The Act makes it an offence to interfere with a protected place, to disturb the site or to remove anything from the site. Divers may visit the site, but the rule is look, don't touch and don't penetrate . The law concerning protected places applies anywhere in

273-471: A set of criteria would be designated. Under the act, wrecks to be designated as controlled sites must have sunk within the last two hundred years. Wrecks to be designated as protected places must have been lost after 4 August 1914. The criteria for designation announced by the Ministry of Defence include: whether the wreck represents the last resting place of servicemen; whether the wreck has suffered sustained disturbance and looting, and whether designation

312-406: Is allowed, but divers must follow the rule of look, don't touch . The Act provides for two types of protection: protected places and controlled sites . The primary reason for designation is to protect the last resting place of British servicemen (or other nationals). While this is often referred to as protection as a war grave, the protected wrecks are not graves in the sense of falling under

351-451: Is banned. These vessels (including one German submarine ), all lost on military service, provide a small representative sample of all such vessels. All other vessels that meet the criteria of the act are subject to a rolling programme of assessment and those that meet the criteria will be designated as protected places. The order that is currently in force, since September 2019, designates 93 wrecks as protected places. This means that diving

390-499: Is likely to be returned to next of kin, and military artefacts of historical interest are likely to be placed in the care of the Royal Air Force Museum , but the licensee may apply for ownership of other material. Licences cannot be issued for sites where there is likely to be unexploded ordnance, and Ministry of Defence policy is not to issue licences where human remains are likely to be found. The Ministry of Defence reserves

429-436: Is likely to stop such disturbance; whether diving on the wreck attracts public criticism; and whether the wreck is of historical significance. In addition, it was announced that, if a wreck designated as a protected place suffers sustained disturbance, it will be designated as a controlled site . The Act was passed in 1986, partly in response to concerns over excavation of military aircraft, partly over public disquiet about

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468-752: Is marked by means of a buoy ( sea mark ). During the 1970s, there was a rapid growth in excavation of the crash sites of military aircraft. These were sometimes carried out by interested amateur souvenir hunters, and sometimes by more serious prospectors of valuable military artefacts. The rights and wrongs of this activity was confused by conflicting statements from the Ministry of Defence, who, in 1973 stated that they had abandoned all claim to crashed planes and that any of official interest had been recovered. Later on they reversed this position, claiming Crown title of both RAF and German wrecks and stating that any excavation required official permission, issuing guidelines and threatening that excavation without such permission

507-472: Is particularly true if crewmen perished inside the vehicle. Classification of a war grave is not limited to the occupier's death in combat but includes military personnel who die while in active service : for example, during the Crimean War , more military personnel died of disease than as a result of enemy action. A common difference between cemeteries of war graves and those of civilian peacetime graves

546-572: Is the uniformity of those interred. They generally died during a relatively short period, in a small geographic area and consist of service members from the few military units involved. When it comes to the two World Wars, the large number of casualties means that the war graves can take up very large areas. For example, the Brookwood Military Cemetery in the UK is the largest of its kind in the country, with graves for more than 1,600 servicemen from

585-452: Is to protect as a ' war grave ' the last resting place of British servicemen (or other nationals); however, the Act does not require the loss of the vessel to have occurred during war. There have been seven statutory instruments designating wrecks under the Act, in 2002 (amended 2003), 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2017, and 2019. Thirteen wrecks are designated as controlled sites, on which diving

624-641: The Falkland wrecks HMS  Ardent , HMS  Antelope , HMS  Coventry and HMS  Sheffield listed as controlled sites. The order only covered eleven controlled sites, which did not include the Falkland wrecks. HMS  Prince of Wales and HMS  Repulse (the ships of Force Z) as well as HMS  Hampshire were included in the designations. However, HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope were already protected (as prohibited sites because they were considered dangerous) by an order passed in 1983 under

663-634: The Falkland Islands Protection of Wrecks Ordinance 1977 . HMS Coventry and HMS Sheffield had to wait until 2006 to be protected. The coordinates given for the position of HMS Hampshire had to be corrected in a subsequent order in 2003. On 31 May 2006, the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland , it was announced that the remains of the fourteen British ships lost in that battle were being designated as protected places. The 'second tranche' came into force on 1 November 2006. This revoked

702-688: The Finnish Defence Forces during World War II , and the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). Other notable sections of the cemetery are the cemetery of the Finnish Guard , the Artist's Hill and the Statesmen's Grove. There are two Lutheran funerary chapels and a crematorium at the area. Hietaniemi means "sand cape" and is a headland located centrally in Helsinki. The cemetery is partly located at

741-659: The First World War and over 3,400 from the Second World War and covering an area of 15 hectares (37 acres). By contrast, Finnish war graves are generally small because the Finnish government decided following the Second World War that every dead soldier or service person would be returned to their home parish, meaning that virtually all Finnish churchyards contain a war grave. In Australia, the Office of Australian War Graves controls

780-698: The Helsinki Orthodox cemetery and the cemetery of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Parish. In the 2010s, it was confirmed that an extensive catacomb network was located beneath the Orthodox cemetery. Military cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations . The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves : ships sunk during wartime are often considered to be war graves, as are military aircraft that crash into water; this

819-627: The High Court decision. The court ruled that the act could apply to merchant vessels and that the Secretary of State for Defence was therefore required to reconsider whether or not the Storaa should be designated under the act. Note that the judgement did not guarantee that the wreck would be designated, only that it was eligible for consideration. However, the wreck was subsequently designated in 2008. The third tranche came into force on 1 May 2008, revoking

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858-663: The United Kingdom, 67 ship wrecks and all underwater military aircraft are "protected places" under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 which imposes restrictions on their exploration and marine salvage . In Spain, war graves are protected by the Law 60/1962. In the United States, war graves are managed within the United States National Cemetery System and American Battle Monuments Commission . In Germany

897-487: The aggregates industry to manage the impact of finding remains. As a result of an extensive consultation carried out in 2000–2001, the Ministry of Defence announced that it would carry out a rolling programme of assessment of all British military wrecks known to have been lost on military service. Designation as a controlled site is only applicable in waters controlled by the United Kingdom. Wrecks considered dangerous will be designated as controlled sites . Wrecks that met

936-567: The control of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , nor are they required to have been lost during wartime. The wreckage of all military aircraft (British or other nations') that crashed in the United Kingdom, in United Kingdom territorial waters or in United Kingdom-controlled waters is automatically protected irrespective of whether there was loss of life or whether the wrecking occurred during peacetime or in

975-406: The crash and be able to identify the aircraft and the fate of the crew. This research becomes the property of the Ministry of Defence. The landowner of the site of the crash must have given permission. Special conditions may be imposed by local councils or heritage agencies. Following excavation, all material recovered must be identified to the Ministry of Defence. Personal property of the aircrew

1014-741: The diving associations, BSAC , PADI and SAA , with the support of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency , Ministry of Defence , Nautical Archaeology Society , and Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, launched a code of conduct for divers entitled "Respect our Wrecks", with the central message of look, don't touch . It was not until 2002 that the first designations came into force. The announcement stated that there would be sixteen controlled sites (in waters under British control), and five designated protected places (five British wrecks in international waters and one German U-boat in British waters), with four of

1053-557: The fate of sunken military ships and also because, in the aftermath of the Falklands War , public opinion supported the idea that a maritime war grave should be sacrosanct. The ships of concern included HMS  Hampshire , where it is alleged that personal possessions of casualties had been looted by divers and where the British Government gave rights for the salvage of HMS  Edinburgh , which had occurred without respecting

1092-599: The first tranche, but re-designated the wrecks and added a further 29 protected places and 1 controlled site (the SM ; UB-81 ). HMS  Sheffield was one of the protected places added. At around the same time, the Falkland Islands issued an order under the Falkland Islands Protection of Wrecks Ordnance 1977 designating HMS Coventry as a restricted area. The SS Storaa was a merchant vessel sunk by

1131-466: The human remains that it contained. However, although the Act gave immediate protection to wrecked aircraft, the wrecks of ships needed to be individually designated to be protected. By the year 2000, there was widespread concern amongst survivor associations (such as those of Force Z), and amongst the majority of divers, about the behaviour of a minority of scuba divers who were disturbing wrecks that most thought should be treated with respect. In 2000,

1170-462: The loss of the M2 submarine , including the placing of a white ensign underwater. Controlled sites must be specifically designated by location, where the site contains the remains of an aircraft or a vessel that crashed, sank or was stranded within the last two hundred years. The Act makes it illegal to conduct any operations (including any diving or excavation) within the controlled site that might disturb

1209-542: The maintenance of war cemeteries, plots, individual graves, post-war commemorations and battle exploit memorials. In the Commonwealth of Nations , the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the commemoration of 1.7 million deceased Commonwealth military service members at over 23,000 separate burial sites in 153 countries. It operates through the financial support of six member states (United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa). In

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1248-621: The present day from any nationality, although focus on Commonwealth soldiers. Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (1986 c. 35) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provides protection for the wreckage of military aircraft and designated military vessels . The Act provides for two types of protection: protected places and controlled sites . Military aircraft are automatically protected, but vessels have to be specifically designated. The primary reason for designation

1287-558: The remains unless licensed to do so by the Ministry of Defence . Licences have been granted for excavation of aircraft, provided that it is not thought that there are human remains present or unexploded ordnance. In the case of sunken vessels, any activities necessary, such as the recovery of extant human remains and the sealing of openings into wrecks, is generally carried out by Ministry of Defence diving teams. Controlled sites at sea are marked on admiralty charts , and their physical location

1326-465: The right to witness all excavations. A large number of aircraft were lost in the sea off the south and east coasts of England during the Second World War . These areas are commercially important for marine aggregates. Since the aircraft are protected under this Act, the discovery of aircraft remains during aggregate dredging means that dredging must stop and an exclusion zone around the position of

1365-701: The state is responsible for the war graves. In addition to soldiers, victims of National Socialism and the GDR also fall under the definition of "war grave". Abroad, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge) takes over the care of German war dead. War graves are under legal protection and have permanent resting rights. The war grave sites are mostly integrated in civil cemeteries and can be found on almost all graveyards. Rupert Brooke 's 1914 poem, The Soldier – "If I should die, think only this of me: / That there's some corner of

1404-477: The world, but, outside of the UK, the sanctions can only be enforced, in practice, against British citizens, British-flagged ships or vessels landing in the UK, unless backed by local legislation. The first and only licence granted in respect of a vessel designated a protected place was granted to Mike Williams of the Nautical Archaeology Society for a project to commemorate the 75th anniversary of

1443-503: The wreck established. The disturbance of wrecks by dredging is also of concern for potential disturbance of human remains and because of damage to an important historical resource. A project undertaken in 2007–2008 by Wessex Archaeology , funded under the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund managed by English Heritage , looked at the potential of the historical resource of such wrecks and also for issuing guidance to

1482-537: Was a merchant ship and therefore not eligible for designation, the claimants made an application for judicial review, supported by Peter Marsden (a local historian and maritime archaeologist) and the Merchant Navy Association. The High Court judge, Mr Justice Newmann, decided in favour of the claimants on 13 December 2005. The Ministry of Defence appealed, but on 5 October 2006, the Appeal Court upheld

1521-504: Was illegal interference with Crown property. Excavations continued, however, and several incidents involving the discovery of human remains and live ordnance (along with concerns about divers and shipwrecks) led to the passing of the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Since the passing of the Act, investigators have been able to obtain licences to excavate subject to a number of conditions. The applicant must have thoroughly researched

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