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Two Britons, killed through the WW2 Blitzkrieg, relaxation within the fairly Flemish cemetery of Peutie, amongst numerous Belgian ex-combatants. Former UK journalist Dennis Abbott lately put crosses on the graves on behalf of the Royal British Legion through the Armistice commemoration week in November.
But he’s additionally in search of solutions.
What have been these two younger British boys really doing in Peutie? And above all: who’re Lucy and Hannah, the 2 Belgian girls who maintained their graves for years?
Abbott has been residing in Belgium for 20 years. He is a former journalist for, amongst others, The Sun and The Daily Mirror in London and was subsequently a spokesman for the European Commission. He can be a member of the Royal British Legion, a charity which raises cash to assist serving and former serving members of the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force going through hardship, in addition to their households.
One of their duties can be to maintain alive the reminiscence of those that died for our freedom. Indeed, Abbott was a reservist in Iraq for British troops in 2003.
“On the occasion of the annual commemoration of the Armistice, I looked into stories related to the Battle of Belgium in May 1940,” says Abbott. “I found the graves of two British troopers of the Grenadier Guards in Peutie. They are Leonard ‘Len’ Walters and Alfred William Hoare. They each died on the evening of 15 to 16 May. Len was barely 20 and Alfred 33. I used to be curious why their final resting place was within the village cemetery and never in one of many huge warfare cemeteries in Brussels or Heverlee.
“I found an article in a British provincial newspaper explaining that the two soldiers were first buried in the grounds of a local castle – presumably Batenborch – and then taken to the village cemetery.”
Abbott added: “The case will not let me go. I’ve regarded into how the troopers ended up in Peutie. Apparently, the first Battalion of the Grenadier Guards fought alongside the Belgian sixth Regiment Jagers te Voet. But nowhere is a selected point out of the German assault on Peutie to be discovered.
“The Belgian and British troops fought a rearguard motion throughout a phased withdrawal past the Brussels-Willebroek Canal after which to the Channel coast.
“It appears that Peutie was the divisional headquarters of the Jagers te Voet Regiment. My guess is that the workers of the regiment and the British Guardsmen may need been housed at Batenborch Castle. So the fortress was a goal for the Germans.
“Were Walters and Hoare guarding the place? Were they seconded to the Jagers te Voet to make sure the rearguard within the regular retreat in direction of Dunkirk? Or have been they reduce off from their regiment through the preventing?”
“The date on the memorial stone, 15-16 May 1940, can be unusual. Why two dates?
“My suspicion is that they died at night during enemy shelling or as a result of a night raid by the Luftwaffe. In the chaos of war, it cannot be ruled out either that they were victims of ‘friendly fire’.”
Abbott has additionally found that two girls from Peutie, Lucy and Hannah, sorted Len and William’s graves for years.
“That intrigues me. What was their relationship with the fallen troopers? Did they know them? I feel Lucy died. The query is whether or not Hannah remains to be alive. Their family members are in all probability nonetheless residing in Peutie. Does anybody know extra? On each graves somebody has laid some lovely chrysanthemums.”
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