The Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery is in the eastern part of Alexandria and is sited between the Al Horaya (the dual carriageway to Aboukir) and the Mediterranean Sea. This cemetery is a part of the main Alexandria Cemetery Complex and its entrance is along the road Sharia Anubis which goes centrally north/south through the area. The front entrance has a metal gate in an archway further along from two small grass areas which are a part of the front roadside.
The Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery is a former garrison cemetery. During the Great War this cemetery was mostly used until April 1916, when the nearby Hadra War Memorial Cemetery was opened. Only 3 of Chatby’s 464 Australian First World War graves came after that time, although there are a further 47 Australian graves interred here from the Second World War.
Like in the First World War, Alexandria was an important hospital centre in the Second World War. There were also camps, hostels, an anti-aircraft base, a communications centre and a military police headquarters set up in the area.
Inside the cemetery stands the Chatby Memorial. The structure with three archways fronted by a stone engraved with ‘Their Name Liveth For Ever More’ commemorates 988 Commonwealth graves (134 Australian) of the sea. Some of these men were buried at sea due to wounds or illness but others were killed on hospital or transport ships throughout the war.
Image: Chatby War Memorial and Military Cemetery
Source: Christopher Karykides.