Time Witnesses: A Canadian Officer in Belgium
Raymond Delaveaux tells of life in Belgium just after the end of World War Two.
To read dozens of stories of civilian suffering caused by warfare please click on Time Witnesses in the menu on this page.
I was in Belgium just after the war as part of the Allied Commission set up to help the occupied countries and I have mixed memories of that country.
I remember the mud and the bumpy cobblestoned roads but also the quiet genuine gratitude of the Belgians. I was billeted for a while in Sant Lievens-Houtem, near Ghent, with a Dr Lafort who was the local vet. I supplied him with petrol so that he could make his rounds and often went out with him, marvelling at how such a small man could handle huge cows and bulls with seemingly little effort. His payment was mostly in farm produce from his apologetic farmers.
Serving men live in a world of their own, and seldom allow civilian intrusion into that world. One day Ghent, next day Eindhoven, but speaking for myself I felt very sorry for what the people had suffered, but I also felt sad that some of their women had their hair shorn because they had gone out with Germans. We were so well treated by Canada that I think we felt a little guilty that the real victims in the war were the civilians, children in particular. I will never forget the pathetic children who hung around our mess halls for food.
I remember Belgium as a sad place, devoid of sunshine and happy noises.
I have returned a few years ago and of course it was totally different - a much more happy place. Vive la Belgique!
