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The Netherlands fell to the Germans in May 1940 and was not re-entered by Allied forces until September 1944. Nijmegen was a front line town from 17 September 1944 until February 1945. The cemetery, which was created by No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station RAMC during Operation Market Garden, is in a wooded area known as Jonkers Bosch, from which it took its name. Many soldiers buried here died of their wounds during the winter of 1944/45 when the Island, south of Arnhem, was held by units of XXX Corps, and much of the British army was dug in along the Maas river.

Jonkerbos War Cemetery contains 1,629 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 99 of them unidentified, and 13 war graves of other nationalities.

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae