Taiping War Cemetery

Taiping War Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Used for those deceased 1939–1945
Established	1946
Location	4°51′31″N 100°45′27″E / 4.85861°N 100.75750°E / 4.85861; 100.75750Coordinates: 4°51′31″N 100°45′27″E / 4.85861°N 100.75750°E / 4.85861; 100.75750 near Taiping, Perak, Malaysia
Designed by	J. H. Ingram
Total burials	Over 850
Unknown burials	Over 500
Burials by nation
Specific figures are not available
Burials by war
World War II: Over 850
Statistics source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Taiping War Cemetery (Malay: Tanah Perkuburan Perang Taiping) is the final resting place for Allied personnel who were killed during World War II, particularly the Malayan Campaign and the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Servicemen who died after the war or during their posting in northern Malaya prior to the Malayan Emergency are also interred here. The cemetery is located in Bukit Larut, Taiping, Perak, Malaysia and was erected and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

There are more than 850 World War II casualties commemorated in this cemetery, including more than 500 who remain unidentified.

Taiping was on the British line of retreat during the Japanese invasion of Malaya along the West Coast of the peninsular. Normally hosting a garrison of one Indian Army infantry battalion, the forces in Taiping had been augmented with a casualty receiving station set up and the Indian 20th Combined General Hospital had been posted there.

The town was also used as a rest and refitting centre for the 6th and 15th Indian Infantry Brigade during the ongoing battles in northern Malaya with numerous medical units being stationed there before retreating towards Singapore.

After the surrender of Japan and the ending of World War II, the task of identifying of British and Commonwealth war dead in the area was assigned to Major J. H. Ingram who led a War Graves Registration Unit. He designed and supervised the erection of the cemetery for the reception of graves brought from the battlefields, from numerous temporary burial grounds, and from village and other civil cemeteries where permanent maintenance would not be possible.