Veurne Civil Extension

Steve Arnold, on May 31, 2007, said:

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. VEURNE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 77 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, almost all of which date from the last two or three days of May 1940. There are also two Czech war graves within the extension. The adjoining COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains two First World War burials.

Mradberg, on June 3, 2009, said:

My Uncle, Mark (Maxie) Rothberg, was killed by the Germans while defending the British retreat. He was a driver in the Royal Engineers, aged 19. Among the rows of crosses in this picture, there is one Star of David, on Maxie's headstone. His dying words to his sergeant were "I am a Jew, please make sure I am buried as one". His body was never found and he is probably buried in the trench where he bled to death after being hit in the neck by shrapnel. On 31st May 2009, on the 69th anniversary of his death, my family and I visited his grave and held a Jewish memorial service. Later, we were taken by local historian, Rev. Wilfried Pauwels to the trench were he was killed and is probably buried in an unmarked grave.