Belgian War Grave General Cemetery Alblasserdam

Alblasserdam General Cemetery contains one Belgian war grave of the Second World War on a small plot with Dutch war graves. This grave is actualy a Commonwealth war grave, the Belgian pilot John Noel Charles Marie van Daele Jr. was a volunteer pilot in the British airforce. He is registered at the Commonwealth War Graves Commision as a Britsh citizen and not as a Belgian citizen. Van Daele although was a Belgian citizen and that why he has a Belgian headstone.

Van Daele flew as a pilot in the 'Tankbuster' Typhoon MN954 for the No. 609 Squadron RAF. Van Daele flew on 28 September 1944 one of his many missions over the mainland of Europe. This time he had the mission to bomb ships on the river 'De Lek' in Holland. This mission ended badly for him, he was shot down by a German Flak anti aircraft gun. Due the bombings he was flying at low altitude, he tried to escape using a parachute. The plane crashed down in Alblasserdam (at address Kortland 4 at least a wing came down, see picture) and van Daele died not far from his plane due the impact of his fall.

The NSB mayor of Alblasserdam is said to have said: throw the pilot's body in a hole. But the Alblasserdam people did not take that and gave him a proper burial. From this grew a long-standing connection between Jean-Noël's Belgian family (wife and daughter) and Alblasserdam.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne (1), Alice van 't Hof (2)