ADEGEM CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY, Maldegem, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Adegem Canadian War Cemetery is located midway between Brugge (17 km) and Gent (26 km) on the N9 which connects the two towns.
1944, the Allies held the city of Antwerp, but the Germans held both shores of the Scheldt estuary, so that the port of Antwerp could not be used. The task of clearing the southern shore of the estuary was allotted to the 3rd Canadian Division, aided by the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 52nd Division. Their operations lasted from October until the beginning of November 1944; by 3rd November the Germans had been cleared from the north-west corner of Belgium and the south shore of the Scheldt was free. There had been fierce fighting for two weeks for the crossing of the Leopold Canal. The majority of the men buried at Adegem died during the operations for the clearance of the south bank of the Scheldt; but many Canadians who lost their lives elsewhere in Belgium were also brought here for burial. A number of isolated graves from various communal cemeteries and churchyards in Belgium have now been concentrated into this cemetery. There is 1 Unidentified burial of the 1914-18 war and there are 1,119 burials of the 1939-45 war in this site, of these, 44 are unidentified.
LIEUT. DONALD FRANCIS TREBELL, died Sunday, 25th March 1945. Age 31.
Son of Francis William and Edna Henrietta Trebell; husband of Hazel Louise Trebell, of Stratford, Ontario.
Grave Reference: XI.E.2.