Boulogne was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the Commonwealth armies on the Western Front throughout the First World War. Most of the graves here, including 11 Rutland soldiers, are of men who died in the hospitals far behind the front line. The gravestones lie flat, an unusual feature of Commonwealth cemeteries in France, because of the sandy soil. But some Second World War graves do have the traditional standing headstones. Other notable burials include the war poet Julian Grenfell, grave 11.A.18, and Squadron Leader Gerald Close, grave 13.A.5-7, who was shot down in his Blenheim bomber in 1941. His headstone has the emblem of the George Cross, a newly instituted medal which replaced his Empire Gallantry Medal won in 1937.