Adegem Canadian War Cemetery

The Adegem Canadian War Cemetery

Adegem is home to the Canadian War Cemetery, at the same time like a very beautiful, quiet, peaceful garden and a place drenched in deep deep sadness.

These pages are meant as a tribute to those who suffered and to those who died to give us back our freedom. We have here on this website a picture of every gravestone on this cemetery.

This page gives you all the information you need to see some of these burial monuments and to easily find someone laid to rest here.

The cemetery is divided in 12 plots. Here is a list of these 12 plots with a word of explanation.

And here is a list of all the Regiments (in alphabetical order) who have one or more of their men buried in the cemetery.

And here is a list of the names of the fallen in alphabetical order.

Many people have written to me since I put up these pages here about this cemetery. Most tell me about a relative who's buried at Adegem and whom they will never forget. I then go and see the grave of the hero they wrote to me about. And a few others also.

One I'll never forget among many others is Antoon Devreker. None wrote to me about him. No need to. Antoon was born in Eerneghem in West-Flanders. Shortly before the war the Devreker family emigrated to Canada. Antoon came back as a soldier but after many heroic deeds he lost his life on 30 March 1945, so terribly close to the end of that terrible war. He was first buried in the Netherlands but his parents requested his transfer to Flemish ground. Here, thanks to Mr. Nico Van Gijn, is a copy of his funeral card.

Who are these men buried here?
The entire list, last names in alphabetical order.

Construction of the cemetery started in February 1945. Now there are 1145 headstones, 848 for Canadians, 256 for men from the United Kingdom and 33 Polish soldiers.

Every year, since 1945, in September, there has been a ceremony in memory of the men buried here. Mr. Hugo Notteboom wrote a very fine book about these annual ceremonies of the first fifty years. It's called "In Flanders Fields". The good people of Adegem.net have put it on the internet. Here is Mr. Notteboom's original text in Dutch and here you find our English translation.

The annual Canadian-Polish Remembrance Ceremony is on the second Sunday of September. And we imagine they always start at 10 o'clock or 10:30 to make sure everyone is ready for a minute of silence at 11 o'clock.

All those young lives mowed down. What for ? Here is something I must get off my chest: my considerations on tyranny, war and related matters. Please read it and please let me know what you think about it all.

More pictures of the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery
The complete alphabetical list of the men buried here
The list of the 12 plots
The alphabetical list by Regiment
The list of the Regiments who have one or more men buried here

Our text about Adegem
Our text about our Meetjesland

Most recent update: 06 January 2013