Misplaced Pages

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (November 2023) Click for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Antoine Fonck}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.

Antoine-Adolphe Fonck
Born	(1893-01-10)10 January 1893 Verviers, Liège Province, Belgium
Died	4 August 1914(1914-08-04) (aged 21) Thimister-Clermont, Liège Province, Belgium
Buried	Thimister-Clermont Communal Cemetery
Allegiance	Belgium
Branch	Belgian Land Component
Unit	2nd Lancer Regiment
Known for	First Belgian soldier to be killed in World War I
Battles / wars	World 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

Fonck was born on 10 January 1893 in Verviers, Belgium, into a family of modest income. 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.

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.

Fonck was buried at the Thimister-Clermont Communal Cemetery on 16 August 1914. A monument was later erected at the spot where he died.

See also

First soldiers killed in World War I

• Albert Mayer, the first soldier and first Imperial German Army soldier killed, August 2, 1914
• Jules-André Peugeot, the first French Army soldier killed, August 2, 1914
• John Parr, the first British Army soldier killed, August 21, 1914
• Thomas Enright, one of the first three American Army soldiers killed, November 3, 1917
• Merle Hay, one of the first three American Army soldiers killed, November 3, 1917
• James Bethel Gresham, one of the first three American Army soldiers killed, November 3, 1917

Last soldiers killed in World War I

• George Edwin Ellison, the last British Army soldier killed, at 9:30 a.m. November 11, 1918
• Augustin Trébuchon, the last French Army soldier killed, at 10:45 a.m. November 11, 1918
• Marcel Toussaint Terfve, the last Belgian Army soldier killed, at 10:45 a.m. November 11, 1918
• George Lawrence Price, the last Canadian Army soldier killed, at 10:58 a.m. November 11, 1918
• Henry Gunther, the last soldier and last American Army soldier killed, at 10:59 a.m. November 11, 1918

References

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

External links

• Media related to Antoine-Adolphe Fonck at Wikimedia Commons
• Antoine Fonck at Find a Grave

• 1893 births
• 1914 deaths
• Belgian Army personnel of World War I
• Belgian military personnel killed in World War I
• Military personnel from Liège
• People from Verviers