page_title: Codford
section_title: Military camps
hierarchical_section_title: Codford / History / Military camps
caption_attribution_description: [Army training camp at Codford, Wiltshire, England, 1917, 1] [picture] / R.C. Strangman
context_page_description: Codford is a civil parish south of Salisbury Plain in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, England. Its settlements are the adjacent villages of Codford St Peter and Codford St Mary, which lie some 7 miles southeast of Warminster.
  The two villages are on the A36 road between Salisbury and Warminster. The A36 previously ran along the whole length of the High Street, but a bypass which was built in the 1990s removed the through traffic.
  The Chitterne Brook flows north–south through the parish, then turns southeast to flow through Codford St Mary before joining the Wylye.
context_section_description: The Codford area has had a long history with ANZAC soldiers and during World War I large training and transfer camps were established for the tens of thousands of troops waiting to move to France. Codford also became a depot in 1916 for the men who had been evacuated from the front line and were not fit to return to the front.
  Codford's 'Anzac Badge' was the idea of an Australian Brigade Commander during World War I, who wished to leave a visible memento of his brigade when it departed. This consists of a gigantic Rising Sun badge (measuring 53 x 45 metres), carved in 1916 into the grass of a hillside to expose the underlying bright white chalk. The soldiers of 13 Trg Bn AIF who maintained the badge as a form of punishment named the site 'Misery Hill'.
  The meticulously maintained Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery nearby is the second largest New Zealand War Grave Cemetery in the UK, and contains the graves of 97 Anzac troops, 66 New Zealanders, and 31 Australians, with 1 Welsh Guardsman from WWII. The effect of two World Wars still resonates in the local community and there is still a sense of welcoming towards Australians and New Zealanders. Codford villagers hold a remembrance ceremony on 25 April (Anzac Day) at 6.30 am each year.
  The Rising Sun badge and the War Cemetery are now the only visible reminders of a period when hundreds of troops from Britain, Australia and New Zealand were stationed in and around Codford.
caption: Army Training Camp at Codford, 1917
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