Belgian Military Cemetery Willemstad

Impressive monument to a very tragic event

The monument at the Belgian honorary cemetery in Willemstad (municipality of Moerdijk) is a memorial wall of concrete, with a cross in the middle. The cemetery houses the graves of 134 Belgian soldiers.

The Belgian Erebegraafplaats Willemstad is a military cemetery located on the Hollandsch Diep in the Dutch town of Willemstad.[1] The cemetery contains the graves of 159 dead from the Second World War, originating from Belgium. Most of them, 134, were prisoners of war of the Germans and were transported by ship to prison camps. They died when their ship, the Rhenus 127, hit a mine on 30 May 1940. Some of the victims had previously been buried in the cemetery behind the Protestant church of Willemstad; that cemetery became full and, partly for reasons of public health, it was decided to use a new mass grave on the Hollandsch Diep.Later, 25 other Belgians who had died elsewhere in the Netherlands were buried here. The name of one of them is unknown. Their names were added to the monument in 1963. The cemetery was officially opened on 29 May 1950. There is a limestone memorial stone (note the different colours of the stones) of three by three metres, one metre high, with the names of the 159 soldiers. It is provided with the textHERE REST 134 BELGIANS
Fallen for their fatherland and ours
30 May 1940and the same text in French.