1st Battalion Welsh Guards enjoys strong relationships with our local community in Surrey and on Sunday 15 Jul 2018 our Rear Operations Group supported Woking Borough Council in delivering the annual commemoration of Muslim service to promote community integration through an understanding of shared heritage at the Muslim Burial Ground Woking.
The burial ground was established on Horsell Common in 1917 by the Woking community as the final resting place for Muslim soldiers of the Indian Army who died of their wounds from service in the First World War. It was adopted by the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1921. WW1 casualties were interned at the site and a further 8 casualties from the Second World War were also buried there.
By the 1960s the site had fallen into disrepair and the bodies of Muslim servicemen were removed and reinterred in Brookwood Military Cemetery. In 1984 the site was recognised as a Grade II listed monument. In 2011 a project commenced to restore the site and create an Islamic inspired peace garden.
