Additional Information:

Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Pittam, of Hackleton, Northants.

Cemetery:

HARLEBEKE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY, Harelbeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

VI. B. 4.

Location:

Harlebeke New British Cemetery is located 32 kilometres east of Ieper town centre on a road leading from the N8 Meenseweg, connecting Ieper to Menen, Wevelgem, Kortrijk and Zwevegem. Ieper is linked to Kortrijk via the N8 passing through Menen and Wevelgem, joining the A17 1.5 kilometres after Wevelgem, in the direction of Gent. The A17 continues for 4 kilometres then meets the junction with the E17 continuing towards Gent. 12 kilometres along the E17 lies the junction with the N36 towards Harlebeke. The N36 ends at a T junction with the N43. Turning left at this junction towards Kortrijk leads to the left hand turning onto Deerlijksestraat. The cemetery is located 250 metres along the Deerlijksestraat on the left hand side.

Historical Information:

Harlebeke village was taken on the night of the 19th-20th October, 1918 by the 9th (Scottish) Division, which at that time included the 1st Battalion, Royal Newfoundland Regiment; and in memory of the last days of that battalion in Belgium the Newfoundland Government have erected a monument on the South-East side of the road to Courtrai. Harlebeke New British Cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the surrounding battlefields of 1918 and (in 1924-25) from German Cemeteries or Plots in Belgium; the ealier concentrations are in Plots I and X, and the later in Plots I, II and XI to XIX; and in the latter group are many graves of October, 1914. There are now over 1,000, 1914-18 and 10, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, nearly 200 from the 1914-18 War are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one soldier from the United Kingdom who is believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 19 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried by the enemy in other graveyards, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of 4,468 square metres and is enclosed by low rubble walls.