JERUSALEM WAR CEMETERY
On 20th January 2020 Stephen and I drove to Jerusalem War Cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel.
Due to light rail work being undertaken along the front of the cemetery, access via the front gate was not possible, and we had to enter the cemetery by a side gate next to the hospital.
Jerusalem War Cemetery is located next to the Hadassah Hospital, and is about 4.5 kilometres north of the old walled city of Jerusalem.
Burials in Jerusalem War Cemetery began after the occupation of Jerusalem by Allied forces in December 1917.
There are 2,515 Commonwealth burials from the First World War in this cemetery, which includes 100 unidentified graves.[1] The Jerusalem Memorial is also situated within the cemetery, which commemorates 3,300 Commonwealth soldiers who died in operations in Egypt or Palestine during the First World War, who have no known grave.
Henry William Nicholls, a contractor who had been working at Coonamble when he enlisted in the A.I.F. and joined the Coo-ees at Molong, is the only Coo-ee buried in this Cemetery.
Trooper Nicholls was killed in action on 7th May 1918 when enemy aeroplanes bombed the 7th Light Horse Regiment camp at Jericho, Palestine.
The photograph below shows Trooper Nicholls’ headstone at Jerusalem War Cemetery.
Grave of Trooper W. H. Nicholls at Jerusalem War Cemetery (Photograph: S. & H. Thompson 20/2/20)
A photograph of the headstone on Trooper Nicholls’ grave has been placed on his individual blog entry, and on his entry on the Roll of Honour for the fallen Coo-ees on this blog.
Click here to read his story: https://cooeemarch1915.com/2015/07/05/william-henry-nicholls/
[1] Commonwealth War Graves Commission. ‘Jerusalem War Cemetery’, https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/71401/JERUSALEM%20WAR%20CEMETERY
1915 Coo-ee March 