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Attention: the War Dead Register only lists Belgian fallen soldiers.  
The War Dead Register provides basic personal information (name, first name, date and place of birth, etc.) and does not contain military files (giving a complete overview of the military career). According to date of birth the files are kept either by the Royal Military Museum or by the Defence archives service. The files safeguarded at the Military Museum can be consulted on site (Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels). The files kept up till now by Defence are currently transferred to the General State Archives.
The date on which they will be once again available has not yet been determined.   

 

Archives of the Royal Military Museum 

Documentation Centre 
Parc du Cinquantenaire 3
1000 Brussels
E-mail : cdoc.klm-mra@warheritage.be   
Website: www.warheritage.be

Cemetery details

Where?
Kerkhof van Brussellaan, 1140 Evere
 
View on map

History

The honours court is created during the Second World War, when the mother of lieutenant pilot Etienne Dufossez who is killed in action, decides to establish an honours court for her son and his fallen comrades. Her idea is received with a great deal of sympathy, but its realisation proves problematic. However, Mrs Dufossez is very perseverant and enlists the help of various dignitaries to achieve her goal. 
The biggest stumbling block turns out to be the person in charge of the war graves service, Mr Rommel. His main argument is that other weapons can also demand their own cemeteries. This is countered by the fact that the airmen never laid down arms and constitute a very close-knit community. The argument seems to hit home, because Mr Rommel finally agrees to the construction of an honours court for airmen. A committee headed by Mrs Dufossez starts raising the necessary funds. 
Various initiatives, supported by the Air Force, yield the required amounts and a piece of land is purchased at the Brussels cemetery. The honours court is the committee’s property and once plans have been drawn up and approved, construction is launched. Repatriation of the fallen begins in 1948, when bodies buried in France, Germany, Holland and Great Britain are transferred. The operation is completed with the official inauguration on 18 September 1950. There are 215 graves in all, 31 of which are symbolic for airmen missing in action. 
After the suspension of military service in 1995, the Air Force, as the committee’s successor, faces problems related to the maintenance of the honours court. In 1996 the venue is nevertheless thoroughly refurbished, and tombstones requiring less maintenance replace the metal crosses. In 2005 an agreement is reached with the Ministry of Defence to include the venue in the general military honours courts maintenance programme. 

 

Casualties

215 Second World War

 

Description

The white marble graves are arranged in parallel rows just in front of a monument with the names of the victims. The court is designed by architect Vandenbosch, the monument (an obelisk flanked by two wings with a central sword) by sculptor Bataille.
In the centre of the monument a statement by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is quoted in three languages:
“Never in the field of human conflict 
was so much owed by so many 
to so few”.