The Democratic Republic of Congo’s last surviving World War Two veteran, Corporal Albert Kunyuku, will be buried on Friday (Jan. 6).
The Congolese film director José Adolphe Voto made the announcement.
One of his latest works title “L’Ombre des oubliés” or “The Shadow of the Forgotten” was based on the life of late Albert Kunyuku.
Family members of the corporal announced last year, that he has died on 25 November 2022, aged 100 years.
He was one of the estimated 25,000 soldiers of the Belgian Congo Army, La Force Publique, deployed to fight alongside Belgian troops during the conflict.
Albert Ngoma Kunyuku, the only remaining Congolese veteran of WWII celebrated his 100th birthday today.
Forcibly drafted by Belgians to fight in the war, he said 3 years ago “We were like slaves, because it was Belgium that brought us into this war. We could not say anything,” pic.twitter.com/yHYOpZltfH
— #CongoIsBleeding (@kambale) May 20, 2022
The corps gathered Congolese men, many of whom had been forcibly enlisted into the Belgian colonial army.
Corporal Albert Kunyuku was honoured last June by Belgium’s King Philippe during a ceremony.
🇧🇪 He decorated 100-year-old Corporal Albert #Kunyuku, who enlisted in Belgium's colonial Force #Publique in 1940 and saw service in #Burma.
📎 https://t.co/Jtw4WkiCNc#jusoor_post pic.twitter.com/XkrkfHjV4n
— Jusoor Post EN (@Jusoorpost_EN) June 8, 2022
During the monarch’s first visit to the African country, he laid a wreath at a memorial for combat veterans in Kinshasa.