A tale for every grave

A golden son I was so proud of...

The Canadian Cemetery is much more than the many rows of tombstones surrounded by greenery. For many in Adegem-Maldegem someone was buried with whom they have a personal relationship.  During the first years after the war many relatives came over from far away Canady to the small town of Adegem.  Who wouldn't remember or pray on the last resting-place of a loved one, a husband, father, son or brother...

That's how in 1946 constable Albert Notteboom received the request from the Devreker family from Canada to look after the grave of their son Antoon, to make sure it was taken good care of and to send a picture.  It sounded so Flemish and that's because it was Flemish.  The young man was born in Eernegem in West-Flanders. The Devreker family emigrated to the Canadian town of Harrow.  Antoon chose to join the Canadian Army when war broke out.  He belonged to the South Alberta Regiment and was with the first troops who disembarked in Normandy.

Four times he was wounded: in Caen, in Moerbrugge, in the Netherland and on the Rhine.  He was first enterred in St.-Michielsgestel (the Netherlands) but at the request of his family his remains were transferred to the Canadian Cemetery in Adegem so their son would rest in Flemish soil, for whose liberty he gave his life. His family had a medallion of Notre Dame of the Seven Woes affixed to the cross on his grave as a religious tribute to a great son, "their hero and martyr".  Herman Van Damme, the village priest regularly said mass for him and his grave was rarely without flowers.

His heroism at Moerbrugge, near Oostkamp

His brother Etienne received in his stead the Military Medal from the hands of his Excellency the Governor-General of Canada with the following word of explanation: "On 10 September 1944 a reconnoitering party was assigned the job of creating a bridgehead across the canal at Moerbrugge.  Private Devreker was part of the crew of a tank that was put out of action by a German anti-tank gun.

The men of the tank were badly burned but they managed to get out of the tank, all but one who was too badly wounded.  Without thinking of his own self or the pain of his own burns he freed his comrade from the tank and carried him through the ditches back to his regiment.

But there is more: on his way he came under infantry fire and the enemy came so close that he shot down two Germans with his revolver and took five more prisonner. The courage, the will power and the self sacrifice of private Devreker have without a doubt saved the life of a tank man and served as a refreshing example for all the men of his regiment."

His heroic death

"Our division", his major wrote to his mother, "fired from a hill across the Rhine.  All of a sudden a shell explodes while being loaded.  Three soldiers were burned but Antoon was badly wounded, worse than we first thought.  He was taken to a first aid position.

He knew he would die and sent for a Catholic priest.  He was given the last sacraments.  There was an outside chance he would survive but he would have been totally blind and bereft of both arms.  He took his suffering courageously like a good soldier. "Greater love no one has than he who gives his life for his friends", we read on his funeral card and on his tomb stone. That indeed is what he did at Moerkerke-Oostkamp.

His mourning mother bears witness: "Antoon was eleven when father died and I had four children.  Tony was my only stay and comfort, a golden son I was always proud of".  May he rest in peace in our Flemish earth that he helped back to liberty.

M. M. Notteboom in front of the grave of Antoon Devreker