Today in the glorious sunshine around 60 people were in attendance for our ‘Belgium Remembers’ annual July ceremony. We welcomed Rudy Peleman from the Royal Federation of Belgian Veterans.
Paul McCue delivered the Individual Remembrance and we remembered Sergeant René Michaux who was a member of the T (Belgian) Section, Special Operations Executive (SOE). He was killed when the aircraft he was in crash landed after developing engine trouble.
Sgt Michaux was to be dropped into occupied Belgium along with two other Belgian agents and one British on the night of 7/8 January 1944. The flight was undertaken by a Halifax aircraft of 138 Squadron from RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire. The aircraft developed an engine problem and the operational drop of the agents could not be made. On its return to England, struggling to keep the aircraft aloft, the plane flew into Tetworth Hill on the final approach to the runway at RAF Tempsford. Only the British agent survived with the three Belgian agents and six RAF crew killed as the Halifax crashed and burst into flames. Sgt Michaux was 21 years old.
The three Belgian agents were initially buried in Bedford Cemetery. The bodies of two were subsequently repatriated to Belgium after the war, but that of Sgt Michaux, with no immediate family in Belgium was relocated to Brookwood. He is buried in the Belgian plot, plot 26, row D, grave 13.
We had in attendance two people whose parents had been members of the SOE. Peter Doneux’s father was a member of T Section, survived the war, and went on to be a member of the British intelligence service MI6. Yvette Pitt’s mother was a radio officer in F (French) section sending over 400 messages from behind enemy lines in France and survived the war.
We have heard the poem The Belgian Flag before and it was particularly relevant to the ceremony today.
In a last-minute change, a visitor from Australia performed the Last Post and The Rouse for us today. Mrs Selena Courtness was visiting family and was brought along to the ceremony by our Membership Secretary. In a fascinating twist, Selena is the mother of Odette who joined us for the December 2022 ceremony where she spoke eloquently about her relative who was killed in battle during the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by Rudy Peleman on behalf of the Royal Federation of Belgian Veterans and by Peter Doneux on behalf of the Secret World War Two Learning Network.
Alan Lopez was our Standard Bearer and Denis Stewart carried Union Flag. There were a further eight Standards on parade.
The Rev. Peter Hills spoke about the Battle of the Somme and passionately delivered his usual wise words.
We are grateful to the two members of the public that very kindly agreed to say the Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph and they both delivered it very confidently.
The ceremony was video recorded and may be watched by clicking this link.
Afterwards, we retired to The Trench Experience for refreshments and to continue the stories.
Thank you to Paul McCue for the research into Sgt Michaux.
Thank you to Mike Hillman for the photographs and to Alan Meeks for the video.
Brookwood Last Post 