Search tips


First search generally, then specifically. Example: don’t look for “François Van Damme”, but try “Van Damme” first and filter the search.
The person you are looking for does not appear? Try another spelling. Example: don’t only try “Vanwymelbeke”, but also “Van Wymelbeke” or “Vanwijmelbeke”.
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?
Steenkerkestraat, 8630 Steenkerke
 
View on map

History

Like many West Flemish municipalities Steenkerke counts numerous military installations during the war, including various medical facilities: from a nursing station for minor injuries and illnesses to a divisional hospital. This creates an incessant flow of wounded men. Some of them die even before they can be transported to a larger facility. 
A cemetery for these dead is established in Steenkerke, and grows steadily between 1914 and 1919. After the rearrangement of the graveyard in the 1920s – when a number of fallen soldiers are transferred to their former places of residence – some hundred dead from other cemeteries are given a final resting place in Steenkerke. This means that the cemetery now counts 539 graves, including 30 British ones. One casualty dies in the Second World War. 

 

Casualties

508 Belgians First World war (27 unidentified) – 1 Belgian Second World War – 30 British First World War

 

Description

The cemetery is located on the edge of the village and is reached by a red gravel road. A low brick wall with bluestone copings borders the venue. The gate opens onto a concrete path that divides the cemetery into a left-hand and a right-hand section. Most graves are positioned back to back in parallel rows.