Belgian and British Commonwealth Cemeteries

A short walk around the cemeteries reveals that by no means do all graves date back to the Liberation period. In fact, there are also fallen soldiers from WWI in the Belgian cemetery. Among the British Commonwealth graves there are also those of aircrew members and some who died in 1940.

The Belgian Military Cemetery was established in 1928 and was next to an existing German cemetery from WWI. The graves were mainly those of German soldiers who were cared for in Leopoldsburg and succumbed to their wounds or diseases. Another 404 German graves were added during the 1930s, and after World War II, these were moved to the Lommel German Military Cemetery. Because of this, the Military Cemetery is still sometimes called 'The German Cemetery'.

After WWI and after WWII, fallen Belgian soldiers and war victims were buried there. The two buildings in the cemetery are mausoleums; the first is for the unknown prisoners of war from both World Wars, the second houses the remains of unknown political prisoners from WWII. A total of 1312 graves lie there, six of which belong to prisoners of war from the former Soviet Union.

The British Military Cemetery was constructed in 1948 and was designed by British architect Philip Hepworth. Hepworth also designed the British cemeteries in Berlin and some in Normandy for the Commonwealth War Graves Commisson (CWGC). There are 767 graves from WWII, including 16 unknown soldiers. In addition to the Commonwealth graves, some fallen Dutch and Polish lie under Portland stone headstones. One of the graves belongs to William Cavendish who died on 9 September 1944 and was John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law.