OOSTDUINKERKE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
West-Vlaanderen
Belgium
Location Information
Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery is located midway between Nieuwpoort (6 Kms) and Koksijde (3 Kms) on the N396 which connects Nieuwpoort to Koksijde via Oostduinkerke.
From Nieuwpoort, Oostduinkerke village is approached via the N396 Nieuwpoortsteenweg. The Farazijustraat is the first right hand turning on reaching the village and leads for 600 metres to the cemetery itself, after joining onto the Andre Geryllaan.
Visiting Information
Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery is open every day from 08.00 hrs to sun down.
Please note that the Commission Plot within this cemetery is one of four Commission sites currently being used to demonstrate horticultural climate change adaptations.
Historical Information
The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944, but in the intervening years, many airmen were shot down or crashed in raids on strategic objectives in Belgium, or while returning from missions over Germany.
Most of those Commonwealth servicemen buried at Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery died in the heavy fighting along the Nieuport-Veurne-Dunkirk Canal, while covering the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk in May 1940.
The cemetery contains a plot of 180 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 31 of them unidentified.
Pictures © Werner Van Caneghem
Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery is located midway between Nieuwpoort (6 Kms) and Koksijde (3 Kms) on the N396 which connects Nieuwpoort to Koksijde via Oostduinkerke.
From Nieuwpoort, Oostduinkerke village is approached via the N396 Nieuwpoortsteenweg. The Farazijustraat is the first right hand turning on reaching the village and leads for 600 metres to the cemetery itself, after joining onto the Andre Geryllaan.
Visiting Information
Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery is open every day from 08.00 hrs to sun down.
Please note that the Commission Plot within this cemetery is one of four Commission sites currently being used to demonstrate horticultural climate change adaptations.
Historical Information
The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944, but in the intervening years, many airmen were shot down or crashed in raids on strategic objectives in Belgium, or while returning from missions over Germany.
Most of those Commonwealth servicemen buried at Oostduinkerke Communal Cemetery died in the heavy fighting along the Nieuport-Veurne-Dunkirk Canal, while covering the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk in May 1940.
The cemetery contains a plot of 180 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 31 of them unidentified.
Pictures © Werner Van Caneghem
Some of the Individual Burials
Group portrait of pilots of No. 452 (Spitfire) Squadron RAAF at RAF Station Kirton-in-Lindsey, the first fighter squadron of which the flying personnel (with the exception of two flight commanders) are entirely Australian. It became operational in May 1941.
Identified left to right:
287473 Sergeant (Sgt) Paul St John Makin;
400141 Flying Officer (FO) Keith Kipling Cox (accidentally killed in the United Kingdom, 23 January 1944);
possibly Archie Stuart;
Flight Lieutenant (F/LT) Brendan Eamonn Fergus "Paddy" Finucane RAF, DSO, DFC & two Bars (killed during operations over Etaples, France, on 15 July 1942, aged 21 years);
407078 Ian Arthur Lace Milne ;
402120 Sgt James Neate Hanigan (killed on active service at Carlisle, England, on 7 September 1941, aged 24 years); 402129 Frederick Revis McCann;
402144 Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Raymond Edward Thorold-Smith (killed during operations over the Timor Sea on 15 March 1943, aged 24 years);
257414 Sqn Ldr Robert Wilton Bungey DFC (killed in a ground accident in South Australia on 10 June 1943, aged 28 years); 400166 Flying Officer (FO) William Douglas Willis (killed during operations near Rouen, France, on 18 September 1941, aged 24 years);
possibly 402007 Flt Lt Alex Roberts;
400148 FO Donald Edwin Lewis (accidentally killed over the English Channel on 21 January 1942, aged 19 years);
possibly Flt Lt Dougas;
404086 Sgt Andrew Gordon Costello (killed during operations over the United Kingdom on 5 July 1941, aged 23 years); 400213 Sqn Ldr Keith William "Bluey" Truscott DFC & bar (killed in an accident near Exmouth Gulf, WA, on 28 March 1943);
402115 Sgt Richard George Gazzard (killed during operations over Belgium on 19 August 1941, aged 21 years). Absent: 404087 Pilot Officer Raife James Cowan, 408022 Justin O'Byrne (later POW); 402232 PO William Davies Eccleton (killed in action in France on 19 August 1941, aged 25 years); PO R T Holt.
