Allied Cemetery of Portianou

In Portianou on Lemnos lies the island’s second Allied cemetery, near the church of the Presentation of the Virgin and beside the mansion where Winston Churchill stayed as First Lord of the Admiralty. Though smaller than the Moudros cemetery, it holds an equally significant place in historical memory. Here rest 352 soldiers of the Dardanelles campaign, from different corps and nationalities—British, French, Australians, New Zealanders, Egyptians, and Indians—aged 17 to 56. Their details were gathered from Italy, and landscaping began in August 1915 while the fighting at Gallipoli was still ongoing. The cemetery remained active until 1920, and three years later the stone enclosure and the distinctive sloping headstones were completed, preserving the memory of the fallen to this day.