Brothers Van Raemdonck
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[edit] Two Flemish soldiers in the Belgian army in World War I
The brothers Van Raemdonck, Edward and Frans, came from Temse and became a symbol of brotherly love in Flanders. They were both sergeants of the 6th company of the 24th Linieregiment. Edward and Frans died on the night of 25 and 26 March 1917 after an attack on the Stampkot at Steenstrate, the spot where a monument was erected for them later on. The monument was constructed out of concrete blocks that came from the Stampkot. The brothers lay buried in the IJzertoren (the Yser Tower, named after the river Yser).
[edit] A symbol of brotherly love for the Flemish Movement?
The dead bodies of both brothers were stored eighteen days after their death in an area which was plagued by shell bursts.
The proposal to ask for an armistice of half an hour in the area where the dead bodies were lying, in order to get them out of harm’s way and to bury them decently at Westvleteren had been brutally rejected by General Bernheim. To General Mahieu he would have explained: Je n'en vois pas la nécessité. D'ailleurs il s’est avéré que le plus jeune des deux était un flamingant" ("I do not see the need. Moreover, it seems the younger of the two was a flamingant"). At which General Mahieu would have replied: "En effet" ("indeed"). Their dead bodies were shot to pieces in September 1917 during a French attack.
The text of the "In Memoriam" card, drawn up by O.Dambre, mentioned the following events:
"In a run on the first line of the enemy, both had behaved themselves marvellously. Under an appalling bombing the men returned after having accomplished their task. Edward came near to the Yser and looked around with his flaming eyes... Not seeing his brother at the venue, he refused to pass the Yser, willing to complete his acts of valour with an act of ideal brotherly love. In the middle of the most horrible cannonade, he goes in search of his brother... What exactly happened then? Eighteen days afterwards, in between our lines and those of the enemy, both were found in each other's arms for ever... dead."
This exhibition of heroic brotherly love till death became a symbol of the Flemish movement. Flemish newspapers wrote touching, compassionate articles on the subject for weeks on end. A pen drawing by Joe English made the depiction of heartfelt brotherly love strongly recognisable as a kind of icon.
[edit] Sources
- Luc De Ryck, Terug naar niemandsland. De geschiedenis van de gebroeders Van Raemdonck : mythe en werkelijkheid, publisher De Klaproos, Koksijde, 1997
- Karel de Schaepdrijver & Julius Charpentier,Vlaanderens Weezang aan den Ijzer, place nor publisher are mentioned, 1918
