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Memorial Mathieu Bodson

This monument was erected in memory of Mathieu Bodson, born in Jupille.

He was executed on September 16th, 1916 at dawn at the age of 23 by the German army for espionage.

When war broke out in 1914, he enlisted as a warvolunteer in the Belgian army. Due to health problems, he was discharged. Later he would be recruited by the British Army for espionage services.

His main work was forging passports that allowed Belgians (civilians and soldiers) to cross the border into neutral Holland. Civilians to flee the violence of war, and soldiers who were cut off from their unit to be redeployed to Belgium through England. He also hid Belgian soldiers.

After the Germans caught him, he was imprisoned in Brussels for 3 months. There his mother came to visit him and he managed to hide his deathsentence from her. One month after his execution his mother died of grief.

Mathieu Bodson was reburied after the war in the Jupille-Bruyères cemetery at Jupille-sur-Meuse where a grave monument was erected for him.

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Source

  • Text: Ed Lewandowski
  • Photos: Ed Lewandowski
  • https://connaitrelawallonie.wallonie.be/fr/culture-et-patrimoine/patrimoine/monument-mathieu-bodson
  • https://bel-memorial.org