Belgian Military Cemetery by WyrdLight

Belgian Military Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The cemetery has 48 Belgians of whom 21 are merchant navy seamen.

On 17 July 1995, the memorial stone shown at right was erected to commemorate all those young Belgians laid to rest in the cemetery. They were brought to Brookwood from burial grounds across the United Kingdom from 1949 onwards when the Belgian Government created this plot.

In 1928 citizens of Ypres, Belgium instigated the nightly ceremony of bugling the Last Post at the Menin Gate Memorial. The Belgian nation thus expressed its gratitude to all those who died fighting for its freedom and independence in the Great War. The only exception to this was during the German occupation of Belgium in WW2. During those four years of occupation this ceremony was continued instead each day here at Brookwood Military Cemetery. When Polish forces liberated Ypres in Septembr 1944 the ceremony was resumed immediately at the Menin Gate even though fighting continued in the town.