A British war veteran places Remembrance Day poppies on the grave of a fallen soldier at the Htaukkyan War Graves Cemetery on November 11.

ONE of the largest groups of British war veterans and their relatives to visit Myanmar in 20 years attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Htaukkyan War Graves Cemetery outside Yangon on November 11.

The group, comprising 50 veterans who served in Myanmar during World War Two, and 90 family members, included Viscount Slim, the son of Field Marshall William Slim, who commanded the 14th Army that defeated the Japanese occupation forces.

The group traveled to Myanmar as part of the Royal British Legion’s ‘Heroes Return’ program to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

About 200 people, including members of the diplomatic corps, attended the ceremony at the cemetery, which contains the remains of 6368 Allied soldiers and is the biggest of the three in Myanmar maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

“Sixty years after the war, it’s particularly moving for us here to share a moment with the veterans who were here so many years ago and I know many of them have lost their friends,” the British ambassador, Ms Vicky Bowman, said in an address at the ceremony.

Members of the group also visited the sites of former battles and other places of interest throughout the country, including Pyin Oo Lwin, where they attended a service at All Saints’ Anglican Church during which two stained glass windows were re-consecrated.

The windows, designed in 1927, were renovated by a British craftsman last year.

In an address at a reception held at the British ambassador’s residence on November 11, Viscount Slim, who lived in Myanmar as a boy, said the veterans have a deep affection for the country’s people.

“We love to talk to them,” he said.

The veterans also welcomed the opportunity “to come back and listen and talk to our dead,” Viscount Slim said.

The ‘Heroes Return’ program, funded by the proceeds of Britain’s National Lottery, helps cover the cost of visits by veterans to countries in which they served during World War Two.