Brandhoek Military Cemetery

For much of the war, the tiny hamlet of Brandhoek was beyond the range of the German guns. As a result, it was used as a site for rest camps, storage depots and medical facilities. Brandhoek Military Cemetery was started in May 1915 next to a field ambulance. In 1917, two new cemeteries were opened next to casualty clearing stations set up during the Third Battle of Ieper.

The most visited grave - the one with the most flowers and crosses - is the grave of Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse in the New Military Cemetery. The son of the Bishop of Liverpool and army doctor by profession, he was twice awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British award for gallantry, one of only three soldiers to have been given this distinction. He won his first Victoria Cross on the Somme in 1916, when he rescued several men under fire from within 25 metres of the German front line. He received his second award posthumously, for his work in treating the wounded at Wieltje on the opening day of the Third Battle of Ieper, even though he was wounded himself. He was later wounded again, this time more severely, and was taken to the casualty clearing station at Brandhoek, where he died on 4 August 1917.

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