MOGOK TOWNSHIP, Mandalay Division — Nestled in Pyaung Khaung Valley in the Shan Hills, some 20 kilometer east of Mogok, lies the old town of Ywar Thar Yar, also known by its old name Bernardmyo, or Bernard Town.
Named after Upper Burma Chief Commissioner Sir Charles Edward Bernard, who founded it as a British army garrison town in the early 1880s, Bernard Town is home to a remarkable piece of British-Burmese heritage: a late 19th century British war cemetery.
Overgrown with bushes and weeds, and located on a beautiful Shan hillside, the cemetery provides a sense serenity and history, but also of sad neglect.
The tomb stones offer sparse details on the lives of British soldiers who died between 1886 and 1893, a period after the Third Anglo-Burmese War, which established British rule over Upper Burma but was followed by years of insurgency among the Burmese.
The soldiers who died in Her Majesty’s name abroad have only their army units and date of their death mentioned. One tomb stone reads: Pte. J. Pierree, 2nd Bttn, Cheshire Regn, died 16.4.1890.
The men came from four British regiments: the Devonshire, Hampshire, PWO Yorkshire and the Border Regiment.
According to a book called The History of Mogok, written by Mogok resident Htet Naing, British authorities decided to base troops at a military head office in Mogok in 1886, when the region was already known for its ruby wealth, and to station a garrison in the Pyaung Gaung region. Later, Bernard town sprung up around the garrison, which constructed weapons depots, roads and bridges in the region.
Originally, the cemetery had some 100 tomb stones to mark the graves of the fallen soldiers, according to old local residents, but these days only about 20 remain standing.
Bernard Town residents lamented the fact that the site has fallen into neglect and said authorities should take steps to preserve it, in particular since it has been attracting a rising number of foreign tourist visitors in recent years.
“When I was child, there were many grave stones around the cemetery. We used to play around here, but later some residents took these grave stones to use as a slab to wash clothes on,” said Aung Naing, 35. “There is no one to take action against it, that’s why there have been fewer and fewer grave stones left.”
Another threat to the site is the region’s mineral wealth: Just meters away from the graves is a massive, red-colored mud stream that has washed down from a mining site on a hill top where workers are searching for rubies and sapphires.
Foreigners have been allowed to visit Mogok, considered sensitive by authorities because of ruby mining, since 2013. They are required to first gain prior government permission for a tourist visit, a process that can be facilitated by a local travel agent but may take up to two weeks.
Aung Naing said since the rise in tourist visits authorities paid some more attention to the site and built a boundary around it, but otherwise nothing was being done to preserve it.
Htet Naing, author of the history book, said Mogok Township authorities should take steps to protect the graves and improve access for those who want to visit. “This is our Mogok history, we will have to maintain it and prevent it from being wiped out because of natural disasters and man-made mistakes,” he said.
Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Rangoon, who has written about his visit to the Mogok region and the cemetery, said he was concerned over threats to the site. “I’m concerned about the many gems mines around this old cemetery and that some residents do not know about the value of this area and that it is part of Burma’s history,” he said.
“It should be maintained not only as a tourism attraction but also a historical place,” said Khin Zaw Win, adding that he had sent a letter to the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia to inform about the site and its poor state.
