Mierlo War Cemetery Explained

Mierlo War Cemetery
Body:Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Use Dates:1944–1945
Established:Spring 1945
Coordinates:51.4358°N 5.5969°W
Nearest Town:Mierlo, Netherlands
Total:665
Unknowns:7
By Country:United Kingdom 655
Australia 5
Canada 4
Netherlands 1
By War:World War II

Mierlo War Cemetery is a Second World War Commonwealth war grave cemetery, located in the village of Mierlo, 12km (07miles) east of Eindhoven in The Netherlands.[1]

History

The cemetery was created in the spring of 1945. The majority of those buried here had fallen in battles between September and November 1944 in the region south and west of the River Meuse and during the fighting for the Scheldt estuary. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the cemetery.

The cemetery contains 658 fallen service personnel; 648 are Commonwealth soldiers (seven unidentified) and one Dutch grave (of G.M. Stönner of the Princess Irene Brigade).

In 1982, an employee of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was also buried in the cemetery.

The graves are arranged in eight sections (numbered 1 to 8), with six or seven rows in each section (A to F or G).[2]

The Cross of Sacrifice at the cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

In September 2019 the cemetery was vandalized with graffiti. The damage included letters on the gravestones, a swastika in the chapel and graffiti on the Cross of Sacrifice. There was also the graffiti "MH17 lie" in reference to the shooting down of flight MH17.[3]

Country ArmyAir Force Total
known unknown known unknown total
635 713 648 7 648
5 5 5
Canada 3 1 4 4
Netherlands 1 1 1
Total 639 7 19 658 7 658

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cemetery – Mierlo War Cemetery . www.cwgc.org. 2019-09-14.
  2. Web site: MMierlo War Cemetery Plan. CWGC.
  3. News: Vandals deface British WW2 graves in Netherlands. 2019-09-13. 2019-09-14. en-GB.