Abeele Aerodrome Military Cemetery
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Abeele Aerodrome Military Cemetery took its name from an aerodrome that was opposite the cemetery. Technically, the cemetery is situated in No Man’s land between Belgium and France. Despite its name the cemetery does not contain the grave of a single flier! The cemetery was begun by French troops during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 (Plot I), ninety-nine were buried in this Plot, and this was added to when the British buried seventy five men in the following July and August (Plot II). After the Armistice, the French graves were removed to other burial grounds and the resulting space was re-used to accommodate twenty five British burials (from April to August 1918) from Boeschepe Churchyard. Also, 84 American burials (Plot III), made between July and September 1918, were removed.
Abeele Aerodrome – Royal Flying Corps
The aerodrome at Abeele was first used by two flights from 6th Squadron in mid-October 1914. Many other squadrons operated from Abeele including Nos. 3, 3 Australian Flying Corps, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 29, 32, 41 and 53. The canvas hangers had been replaced by wooden framed covered with corrugated iron hangers in 1916. Abeele had gained a reputation of being a difficult airfield for pilots, as the main landing area is bisected by a road and the east and west boundaries lined by trees. In one month three aircraft suffered engine failure as they were taking off on missions and were all destroyed one machine overturned after hitting a ditch, another ended up in a ploughed field and the third crashed into the trees. For more information on the Squadrons follow the link
Abeele Aerodrome is perhaps best known for Captain Lanoe Hawker V.C., DSO. Hawker received his V.C. for his actions on 27 July 1915 on shooting down an Albatros in flames and killing the pilot and observer. See German airmen buried at Sanctuary Wood Cemetery Hawker was shot down and killed by the Red Baron, Manfred von Richtofen, on 23 November 1916 near Luisenhof Farm on the Somme. His body was lost and his name is listed on the RFC and RAF Memorial to the Missing in Arras. Abeele was in constant use until March 1918 when it was evacuated as the front line had moved closer during the German spring offensive. The RFC/RAF dead from Abeele are buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. Read more about the British airmen buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.
Of the RFC/RAF burials at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 36 of the 94 airmen buried there died as a result of an accident resulting from engine failure, mechanical trouble, explosion, these often occurred while taking off or landing, collision with other aircraft, collision with balloon cables or friendly fire. Of the 94 buried at Lijssenthoek: 36 were accidents, 32 air combat, 12 ground machine gunfire/anti-aircraft fire, 6 bombardment on airfield, 6 wounded, I missing, 1 suicide. Some 74% of these pilots, observers and ground crew were based at Abeele with the remainder based at La Lovie near Proven, and other bases in northern France. Injured pilots were taken to Lijssenthoek CCS for treatment and burial in the nearby cemetery. Mendinghem Military Cemetery has 75 RFC/RAF burials almost half of these belonged to 9th Squadron, and 24 pilots from 7th Squadron. At Dozinghem Military Cemetery nine of the twenty graves are from 21st Squadron which flew from La Lovie.
The village of Abeele
The village of Abeele now Abele is a small border village with a population numbering some 600, located not far from the cemetery, and it is split down the middle of the main street with one half under the municipality of Poperinge in Belgium, and the other half under Boeschepe in France. The old Belgian customs house now serves as a community café and meeting/exhibition place. The village church is in France. During WW1 Abeele was on the train line that ran from Hazebrouck to Godeswaersvelde and then onto Poperinge. The line is now gone, closed in 1970, and has been replaced by the bypass road. The buildings in the village were used as billets and hutted camps grew up around the village to accommodate the troops and it was on the main route to the front at Ypres with thousands of men and supplies moving through and around the village. The village was also the location for Corps HQs housing mainly the Canadian and ANZAC Corps.
1st Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division
There are 14 men from The Buffs buried here.
Second Lieutenant Paris Villiers Drake-Brockman, Killed in action 18 July 1918, age 19. Grave II.B.7. The eldest of two sons and a daughter of Paris Frederick and Isabel Alice Drake-Brockman, 3 Cintra Park, Upper Norwood, London. He was educated at Westminster School then enlisted in the Artists Rifles and was promoted to Sergeant and applied for a commission attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in September 1917 and was gazetted Second Lieutenant and joined the Battalion in April 1918. Captain William Alexander Cosgrave Hedley Mentioned in Despatches, Killed in action 19 July 1918, age 23. Grave II.B.13. Son of the Rev. Herbert and Mrs. Hedley, 17 Brockhill Road, Hythe, Kent. He was educated at Aysgarth School, Winchester College, Lancing College and was to attend Trinity College, Cambridge in 1914 when war was declared. He was gazetted Second Lieutenant on 22
September 1914 joining the 8th Battalion, The Buffs. He went to France on 5 October 1915 and joined the Battalion in the field at Reninghelst on 8 October. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 18 March 1916 and then to Temporary Captain on 30 June 1917. On the 1 July 1917 he was admitted to hospital with a severe dental problem and was Mentioned in Despatches in November 1917. On 9 February 1918 he relinquished the rank of Temporary Captain with the Battalion disbanded on 13 February and he was transferred to the 1st Battalion.
On the 15 July the Battalion took over front line trenches in the Dickebusch area, near Ypres known as the Ouderdom Line. ‘D’ Company relieved ‘C ‘ Company, 1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment on the left of the Battalion front line. The Battalion suffered a steady stream of casualties from shelling and sniping during its tour of the front line. On the 18 July the War Diary records: ‘Killed 2Lt P.V. Drake-Brockman.’ On the 19 July twenty other ranks were killed and ten were wounded. On the 21 July the War Diary records: ‘Wounded and died of wounds (19.7.18) Capt W.A.C. Hedley.’ The Battalion was relieved on 20 July by the 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment and withdrew to Brigade reserve.
Three men killed in action on 29 July 1918 – The War Diary records that the Battalion was occupying the same positions as those earlier and had two companies from the American 105th Infantry Regiment attached for trench training. The War Diary records the casualties in the Battalion on 29 July as: ‘3 OR killed, 4 OR wounded.’ G/8058 Company Quartermaster Serjeant George Thomas Wilson, age 25. Grave II.C.10. Son of Eliza Ellen Wilson, of Portsmouth, and the late Staff Serjeant Major Wilson. T/240440 Company Quartermaster Serjeant Leslie Hickmott Back, age 25. Grave II.C.11. The youngest of two sons and a daughter of the late John and Rosamond Waller Back, of Wye, Kent. He was a Butcher when he was called up. His mother died after the war and she and his sister Dorothy are listed as the recipients on his Pension record. L/6706 Private Alfred Jay, age 41. Grave II.C.9. He was married to Ada Marie Jay on 19 October 1912 and they lived with their two children at 110 Folkestone Gardens, Deptford, London. Alfred had enlisted age 24 in 1901 and was to sign on again in October 1913.
Five men killed on 2 August 1918
On the 2 August the Battalion carried out a raid on the German lines with Lieutenant Hollis commanding two of the raiding platoons with the objective of the Elzenwalle Brasserie and to gain the identity and capture enemy prisoners. The raiders left the British lines at Scottish Wood at 7.50am and at the same time the British shelled the enemy positions with the Trench Mortar Battery shelling the objective. The main opposition came from enemy machine gun positions however, the main objectives were gained and prisoners taken and the enemy identified as the 153rd Infantry Regiment. The Casualties were listed as: ‘Captain R W Jones DSO (RAMC) killed, Lieut G F Hollis MC Killed, 13 OR killed, 27 OR wounded, 2OR died of wounds, 5 OR missing.’
Lieutenant Charles Frederick Griffiths Hollis M.C., age 20. Grave II.D.3. Son of Frederick and Rose Hollis, of “Birchlands,” West Byfleet, Surrey. Educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College. 203066 Private Edmund Thomas Boarer, age 19. Grave II.C.18 Son of Augustus Edmund and Agnes May Boarer, 95 Burnt Oak Road, Gillingham, Kent. G/14307 Private Charles Sidney Campbell, age 18. Grave II.C.17. Son of C. E. and A. M. Campbell, 6 Tottenham Square, Tottenham Road, London. G/14287 Private George Youngman, age 18. Grave II.D.2. Eldest son of George and Edith Youngman, 21 White Elm Street, Ipswich, Suffolk.
Captain Kingsmill Williams Jones DSO, RAMC attached 1st Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), Killed in action 2 August 1918, age 43. Grave II.C.19. Son of Percival and Margaret Jones, of Dublin. He qualified as a Doctor at Trinity College, Dublin in 1903. After filling the posts of resident medical officer at Cork Street Fever Hospital, Dublin, and of house-surgeon of the Swansea General and Eye Hospital, he went into practice at Ardwick, Manchester, and in 1913 was elected member of Manchester City Council for Ardwick Ward. He took a commission as Lieutenant in the 3rd East Lancashire Field Ambulance on 11 February 1912, and went to France in September 1914 with the 16th Special Reserve Field Ambulance. He was wounded and awarded the DSO at Hooge in August 1915 the Citation read: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty at Hooge. During the entire night of 9 - 10 Aug 1915, and the whole of the following day and night, he was attending to and evacuating wounded from the front trenches, time after time exposing himself to shell and rifle fire. He was twice slightly wounded, but stuck to his work with unflagging energy. It was entirely owing to Capt Jones that the crater was successfully evacuated of wounded.’ The scene of the action can be accessed via the Kastelhof Hotel, formerly the stables of the Hooge Chateau. He was wounded again, severely gassed in September 1916.
Seaforth Highlanders, Labour Corps
13937 Private Robert Orr transferred to 113830 40th Battalion Labour Corps, Killed in action 20 August 1918, age 43. Grave II.E.7. He was married to Ellen F. Orr, 31 North Street, Dundee. His headstone does not mention he was a member of the Labour Corps. In 1919 it was decided that the headstone of a member of the Labour Corps, who previously served in any other unit, should record his connection with his previous regiment.
What was a Labour Company
The Labour Corps Company was defined in Army Orders when the Labour Corps came into existence in 1917. Its standard composition was defined in Army Council Instruction 611 of that year.
Composition
1 Major, commanding the company
4 Lieutenants or Second Lieutenants
1 Company Sergeant Major and 1 Company Quartermaster
Sergeant
8 Sergeants
18 Corporals (of which, 1 a Corporal-Cook and 1 a Corporal-Clerk)
461 Privates (of which 6 were appointed to Lance-Corporal)
6 officers’ batmen (normally Privates)
Attached
1 Medical Officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps
8 Drivers of the Army Service Corps (of which 1 a Corporal)
Organisation
The company was structured into:
Company Headquarters
4 Platoons (under a Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant), each of 2 Sections (under a Sergeant). Each Section made up of 2 Sub-Sections (under a Corporal).
Transport
The company was provided with three carts and four General Service wagons and a total of 13 draught and heavy draught horses.
The officer commanding would be provided with a riding horse or bicycle at his discretion.
RAMC - Suicide
90349 Private David John Rose, 34th Field Ambulance, 11th (Northern) Division. Killed in action 27 May 1917, age 21. I.E.6. Son of Simon and Annie Rose, 59 Tonnahurich Street, Inverness. He was reburied here from Boeschepe Churchyard Cemetery in October 1920. On the 27 May 1917 David shot himself.
The cemetery was designed by G.H. Goldsmith
Location
Abeele Aerodrome Military Cemetery is located 16 Km west of Ieper town centre on the N38, a road leading from the N308 connecting Ieper to Poperinge. From Ieper town centre the Poperingseweg (N308) is reached via Elverdingestraat then directly over two small roundabouts in the Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of the Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing. On reaching Poperinge the N308 joins the left hand turning onto the R33, Poperinge ring road. The R33 ring road continues to the left hand junction with the N38 Frans Vlaanderenweg. 4 Km along the N38 lies the right hand turning onto the Casselstraat, followed by an immediate left hand turning onto the Dodemanstraat. The cemetery is located 450 metres along the Dodemanstraat on the right hand side of the road. Visitors to this site should note a 150 metre grassed access path which is not suitable for vehicles.
Burials
UK - 104
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