3442645 Sgt Joseph Hogan of the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers died on this day, 8th September, 1940. The UK, Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945 states that he was born in Wigan and living in Wigan when he enlisted. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds the information that he was 37 years old when he died and was the son of Thomas and Susan Hogan and the husband of Annie Hogan of Wigan, Lancashire.
Sergeant Hogan is buried in Brussels Town Cemetery, grave reference X.12.15. The Commonwealth War Graves has this to say about the cemetery:
"Brussels was in German hands from 20 August 1914 to the date of the Armistice. Plot X of the cemetery contains the graves of 54 Commonwealth casualties, 50 of which were prisoners of war whose bodies were brought back from Germany by the Canadian Corps in April 1919. The British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until September 1944, but in the intervening years, many airmen were shot down or crashed in raids on strategic objectives in Belgium, or while returning from missions over Germany. Most of the Second World War casualties buried in the town cemetery died on lines of communication duties after the liberation of Brussels at the beginning of September 1944, but a few date from the brief period that the BEF spent in Belgium in May 1940. Brussels Town Cemetery contains 54 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and a further 590 from the Second World War, 4 of which are unidentified. There are also 35 Foreign National burials here."
The War Graves Photographic Project holds a photograph of Joseph Hogan's grave.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk (1939-1945 Roll of Honour)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The War Graves Photographic Project
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