Yesterday's Weapons Forums
http://www.yesterdaysweapons.com/phpBB3/

May 10th
http://www.yesterdaysweapons.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=9029		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  ANDREY [ Mon May 10, 2010 8:04 am ]
Post subject:  May 10th
Today, may 10th, 70 years ago, Germany invaded (neutral) Belgium. 18 days later the Belgian military surrendered to the overwhelmingly superior enemy and it's soldiers were marched off to POW camps in Germany. Amongst them was my grandfather joseph Huygens. He was a cavalryman. The initial task of the cavalry were scouting missions, but quickly this changed to fighting rearguard actions at bridges and crossroads, so other troops and civilians could (try to) get away from the advacing Germans. My grandfather was lucky, as he was Flemish, a reservist and the father of 2 young children he was released after a couple months (from a POW camp near the Polish border). I still have his release form. The Germans were overwhelmed by the number of POW's so the prisoners suffered from malnutrition and other hardship. They ate grass and tree bark in order to survive. My grandfather did not talk a lot about the war. When asked he only told us kids that "a lot of boys died, on both sides". He resented germans for the remainder of his life, but he was proud of his service. On independence day he would wear his medals and carry the local veteran assosciation flag during the parade for the king in Brussels. His fellow veterans were his best friends.
I am proud of him.

Best regards, A
Author:  A square 10 [ Mon May 10, 2010 9:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: May 10th
you have much to be proud of , i cannot imagine what it must have been like to face that german force
Author:  ANDREY [ Tue May 11, 2010 4:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: May 10th
I found a lead on how to look up his service record. Aparently it's easier than I thought. Asa I have some free time I'll contact the dept for an apointment.
Should have done this long ago.
Best regards, A
Author:  A square 10 [ Tue May 11, 2010 8:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: May 10th
never too late to start , tracking history can be a very rewarding and enlightening process
Author:  Herr Mario [ Tue May 11, 2010 10:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: May 10th
....can be a painstaking labor of love and time and determination....I did it for my father in law....he never spoke of anything of his experiences to his family...he died just before I met my wife...no one in his family was interested in finding anything out-until I started digging for info...with a few basic pieces of left behind papers and information and photos that no one knew anything about I was able to trace his entire journey and battles and locations during the war....I wish I could have spoken with him....he went thru hell.....in his honor and memory I attatch a photo of him in the winter of '44' to my signature line below-on the left side....the fellow on the right is also an extended family member who fought in the Pacific and also saw hell...he entrusted me with his bringback war trophys...thats another story for another time... ;)
Author:  NebrHogger [ Thu May 13, 2010 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: May 10th
There's a LOT of information in the National Archives branch offices, too. You can find out information of family members who served in the Revolution & Civil War. SW
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/