100 years ago, on Armistice Day 1922 the remains of the Unknown Soldier were buried at the Congress Column in Brussels. The Unknown Soldier symbolises all the Belgian soldiers that died during the First World War and whose remains were never identified. Each year on Armistice Day a ceremony is held at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier to remember not only the 40,000 Belgian troops that died during the Great War, 4,000 of whom were not identified, but also the Belgian troops that have lost their lives serving their country in all other wars and conflicts since.
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100 years ago, the Unknown Soldier was buried in Brussels
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When deciding which of the unidentified Belgian soldiers that had fallen during the First would become the Unknown soldier a random coffin was exhumed at five different war cemeteries. All the coffins were taken to the station at Bruges (West Flanders) where a blind former soldier tapped one of the coffins with his white stick. The coffin was then taken to Brussels where it was interred at the Congress Column on 11 November 1922.
The man who was given the honour of designating the Unknown Soldier was Renold “Raymond” Haesebrouck. In 1917, during a reconnaissance of enemy positions in Diksmuide, he got shrapnel in his eyes and went blind. He was registered as number 1 in the of the National Association of War Invalids’ register.
Speaking on VRT Radio 1 Colonel Christophe Onraet said that Mr Haesebrouck also had a special relationship with the Belgian royal family. How this came about remained a mystery. However, according to some, while he was in the trenches he threw himself onto King Albert I to protect the then Belgian monarch when the trench came under fire during one of his visits to the front.
Commemorations at 5 war cemeteries
Commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the interment of the Unknown Soldier have been held at war cemeteries in Lier (Antwerp Province), Namur, Liège, Adegem (East Flanders) and Keiem (West Flanders). At each cemetery an urn was filled with earth, as a reminder of the five unknown soldiers who were exhumed a hundred years ago.
On Thursday the urns were taken to the military cemetery at Bruges. There great-niece of Raymond Haesebrouck (photo above) was given the honor of designating one urn with the same white stick that Mr Haesebrouck used 100 years ago. The urn will be interred today at the Congress Column in Brussels.