De Trompe Memorial and Former Military Cemetery

Café De Trompe was located in the vicinity of this former military cemetery, and at its origin. At the end of October 1915, after a number of deadly direct hits, the café was abandoned and occupied by the army and a chapel and later a cemetery were established. Towards the end of the war the cemetery consisted of several wooden, decorated crosses, erected in rows parallel to the central aisle. The right side of the cemetery was bordered with pollard willows and elms. At the back stood a large cross with a statue of Christ under a gable roof. In 1968 the cemetery was closed and the graves were transferred to the cemetery in Westvleteren (and partly to Hoogstade). A memorial and a row of elms with a cross at the end remain as a somber witness. Hopefully there will remain a memento as a silent witness for those who we must never forget and in memory of 'never again war'.