Antoine Fonck

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Antoine-Adolphe Fonck
File:Antoine Fonck - Museum Cabour WOII & 2-4 Lansiers Adinkerke 20-04-2018.jpg
Born(1893-01-10)10 January 1893
Verviers, Liège Province, Belgium
Died4 August 1914(1914-08-04) (aged 21)
Thimister-Clermont, Liège Province, Belgium
Buried
Thimister-Clermont Communal Cemetery
AllegianceFile:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium
BranchFile:Flag of the Belgian Land Component.svg Belgian Land Component
Unit2nd Lancer Regiment
Known forFirst Belgian soldier to be killed in World War I
Battles / warsWorld War I 

Antoine-Adolphe Fonck (10 January 1893 – 4 August 1914) was a Belgian soldier of World War I. He was known as the first Belgian soldier to be killed in the war.

Biography

File:Thimister Monument Fonck 5.jpg
Monument at the place of his death

Fonck was born on 10 January 1893 in Verviers, Belgium,[1] into a family of modest income.[2] He lost both of his parents in childhood and was raised by his grandmother. He later worked as a shopkeeper at the Grand Bazaar of Liège.[2] In 1911 he enlisted as a volunteer in the Belgian army, joining the 2nd Lancer Regiment. Following the outbreak of World War I, on 4 August 1914, at 10:30 am, he was killed during a reconnaissance mission to the La Croix-Polinard hamlet in Thimister-Clermont.[1] Fonck was buried at the Thimister-Clermont Communal Cemetery on 16 August 1914.[1] A monument was later erected at the spot where he died.[3]

See also

First soldiers killed in World War I

Last soldiers killed in World War I

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Monument à la mémoire du cavalier Antoine FONCK, Thimister". bel-memorial.org (in français). Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Le lancier Antoine- Adolphe Fonck, premier mort belge de la Première Guerre mondiale". Curieuses Histoires Belgique (in français). 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  3. "Memorial Antoine-Adolphe Fonck - Thimister-Clermont". TracesOfWar.com. Retrieved 2023-11-14.

External links