Chris & Claudine D'Hondt

Recorded April 13, 2022

Brandon had a client in Belgium who really needed him to attend some meetings so in late January he flew off to Belgium and his client put him up in the best place in Ghent. As it turned out, Ghent is only five hours from Friedberg so Brandon asked if Alex would drive out to see him. It is also only a few minutes from one of my favorite couples in Belgium, the D’Hondts.

I sent a message to Brandon, Alex and the D’Hondts asking them if it would work out and to my great joy it did.

The plan was for Brandon and Alex to go touring on Saturday and then make a quick run down to Dunkirk on Sunday but unfortunately Brandon was unexpectedly stuck in meetings all day Saturday so Alex and Lisa checked out a few of the major World War 1 battle sights where Lisa’s great grandpa Shaw actually fought. I’ll bet James Shaw couldn’t have dreamed that a hundred years later his great, great, great Grandson would walk through what might have been the very same trench where he was cold, wet and wounded. It is sobering to think about. 

They also checked out the Grote Markt in Brussels which is well over a thousand years old.

So Sunday, January 23 came and that is when Brandon joined them and they visited the D’Hondts. After that they checked out Flanders field. Flanders field was actually in my area and I tracked all around it. 

They then all piled into Alex’s car and headed down to Dunkirk, another famous battle scene where thousands of allies died and the famous evacuation took place. Mom and I really need to get over there and see some of these battle sites.