The Cemetery
In and around the Belgian town of Machelen during WW1, 1918, the French army fought hard battles with the Germans over the river Lys (Leie) and the railroad to Gent. During these battles the French lost many soldiers in the town and in its vicinity. After the war the buried soldier, spread out over many cemeteries, was recovered and reburied in the French War Cemetery Machelen.
This cemetery is the collective cemetery of almost all French soldiers who died during the liberation offensive of October 1918. Most died during the fighting on the river Leie and the railway from Ghent to Kortrijk. Many were originally buried in other municipal cemeteries. The original wooden crosses were replaced in 1927 by cast iron ones (swords), and in 1980 by the current composite models. The many grave markers that reflect the different religious beliefs of the victims are striking. The graves of soldiers from the then North African colonies are notable for their Islamic gravestones. There is also one Chinese buried there (he belonged to the workers’ corps).
The cemetery has an area of approximately 2700 m² and is located approximately 450 m southeast of the village church. Next to the French cemetery of Saint-Charles de Potyze, it is the second major French military cemetery in Belgium. There is a memorial cross, designed by G. Lefèvre, and a memorial wall with a sculpture by the French sculptor Marguerite Bayser-Gratry. 750 deaths are commemorated.
There are a few remarkable graves in this plot. There is a British pilot, an Annam worker, today part of Vietnam, and a Chinese worker buried here.
Hoan from Annam
Hoan G.V. Thom – travallieur annamite (Eng. Annamite Worker) fallen 11.11.19
It is very dubious if the information, name, numbers and date is correct on the gravestone. But it is certain that this person was from Annam.
When the Great War lasted all armies ran low on new soldiers and workers. The French recruited in their colonies and raised 43430 new workers from Indo-China. So Hoan left his country to work in Europe for the French army and during his stay lost his live,
Tsingtao – Yang Ch’eng Fa from China
The Chinese recruits were deployed behind the front on supply jobs, on railways or in ports. They were not armed and were not deployed on the front lines. Yet it happened that they were deployed close behind the lines and came into range of the enemy artillery. The number of Chinese was many times higher than the Indo-Chinese recruits. 140,000 Chinese recruits were deployed during the First World War, approximately 96,000 with the English troops and 37,000 with the French troops. China declared war on Germany during the First World War on August 14, 1917.
Because the names of the Chinese workers were difficult for the French soldiers to pronounce, they were given a number. When this worker died, they found no legible papers with a name, but only a bracelet with the word Tsingtao and a registration number. Tsingtao is a Chinese port city that is now called Qingdoa. Only after inquiries in China did the worker’s real name, Yang Ch’eng Fa, become known to his army department. Yang Ch’eng Fa belonged to the 119th Company Chinese Labor Corps, and was therefore not assigned to the French units. Yang Ch’eng Fa died on 19 February 1919.
British pilot, 2nd Lt. Philip Frederick Cormack
Philip was born in 1899 and at the start of the war was only 15 years old. In 1912 he joined the Sea Scouts and by 1915 was a King Sea Scout and his reputation within the Scouting movement had been noted by the Admiralty. At the beginning of 1915 he left school and started work at Lloyds where his two older brothers had worked before the war. Early in 1916, although still only sixteen, he was invited by the Admiralty to volunteer to join a Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron at Newhaven. For the next 10 months he acted as a lookout and took part in torpedo operations against German shipping both in the Channel and the North Sea. In November he returned to his duties at Lloyds and in August 1917, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot.
Philip’s Officer Cadet Training was conducted at Oxford University and on commissioning he was posted to RAF Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey for basic flying training on the Sopwith Scout and Avro 504. In September 1918 he flew to an airfield near St Omer and joined 204 Sqn which was equipped with Sopwith Camels. Over the first month the Squadron shot down three German aircraft. On the 3rd October he was shot through the collar of his flying coat, an experience that stunned him and gave him a stiff neck. It was at this time that he wrote home complaining of being very tired, though he continued to fly up to three sorties per day.
In mid October the French launched a large offensive in the area of Courtria, east of Ghent in Belgium and 204 Sqn moved forward to the town in support. On Sunday morning of the 27th October, 15 of the Squadron aircraft took off on a bombing mission. They had only been airborne for about ten minutes when they were surprised by 40 German Fokkers that attacked out of the sun. One Fokker was shot down but quickly the superior numbers began to tell and the squadron lost four aircraft before they broke off the engagement. One of the pilots that was shot down was captured and taken prisoner whilst the other three were killed, two had their bodies recovered and are buried in an allied cemetery. Sadly, the third pilot to be killed was Philip but his body was not recovered and he was listed as “Killed in action, no known grave” and so it was for the next 93 years.
Philip had to wait until 2011 when after being noticed by a Belgian aeronautical researcher that a British name was unusual on a French grave the truth came up. When Philip was shot down was found by either French soldiers, who were fighting in the area, or by Belgian farmers and he was buried in a marked grave in the Machelen vicinity and on a later date was reburied at the French WW1 Cemetery in Machelen. The French gravestone was changed into a commonwealth gravestone and Philip Frederick Cormack 2nd Lt and RAF Pilot was found.
Philip Cormack, who served as a Second Lieutenant on 204 Sqn, Royal Air Force and was shot down near Machelen Belgium, on 27th October 1918.
Visit
The French WW1 Cemetery in Machelen is open during daytime hours.
