Kortrijk

Saturday, February 24, 2024

On Saturday morning we received a history lesson from our host Mark. He also showed us his collection of things he has found in his yard and in the neighborhood. He told us that when they first bought the farm, him and his wife Isabelle would have contests while gardening to see who could find the most objects. They still find things to this day but not nearly as many as when they first moved in. Mostly they find 50 caliber balls like you see in the bottom right corner of this tray. These balls are packed into artillery shells that explode before they hit the ground and throw these balls everywhere.

One of the museums had a cut away view of the bomb that you see here.

This bomb was designed by a guy named Shrapnel and so it is called a shrapel bomb. That is where we got the name shrapnel from.

We then headed into Ieper for one last goodbye. On the way, we stopped at the “Brooding Soldier”. This is a statue based on a famous picture that was taken of a soldier during the war.

Back in 1978 when I was on my mission we were told that Ieper was a very famous city and that we should go visit it while we were in the area. They never said why it was famous and of course at the time I knew nothing of WW1 but we rode our bikes out there on a P day and checked the city out. I was rather disappointed because it had no castles or dungeons or anything that I would find interesting. All I really remember from that trip is the cool moat around the city. We rode into the city through the Menin Gate and this is the view of the city wall that I remember. I still think it is pretty cool.

After checking out a few more sights around Ieper we headed into Kortrijk. On my mission I served in the Deerlijk District (part of the Kortijk zone) but lived in St Lodewijk. The branch we attended was in Kortrijk. My companion during the first part of my time in St Lodewijk was Mont Miller. Mont was a strange fellow, but we became friends. Mont had a beautiful voice and would use two tape recorders to sing all four parts of a song. He would record himself singing Soprano and then play it back using a second tape recorder to record him singing the alto part along with the first tape recorder playing him singing the soprano part. He did that for all four parts. He also played the piano and organ.

The missionaries had become good friends with a Monk named Pater Fidelis. We visited him often in the church where he served. I tried to figure out which church that was, but there are two churches in Kortrijk that could be the one. I think this is the church.

One time when we visited Pater Fidelis, he took us up into the pipes of the organ. At the time the keyboard was also up there but it now looks like the keyboard has been moved to the main level. I was fascinated. Mont asked if he could play the organ and away he went. He played a very loud and boisterous version of “Jerusalem” and sang along as he played with a very loud and boisterous deep base voice. It was quite amazing.

As he was playing and singing, I looked down on the floor and there were some priests passing around a collection plate among the visitors. I like to think that Mont and I contributed to the support of the church.

I then went and showed Mom and Alex my apartment in St Lodewijk. I am pointing to my apartment.

We then headed to the Flanders American Cemetery. We had arranged to meet Chris and Claudine D’Hondt there. I was quite worried because of how bad my Dutch was. While my Dutch was bad, I was happy that I could still make myself understood. We did use Google Translate a lot, but it was great to see them.

We checked out the Flanders Field Cemetery and at one point Chris went and found a tour guide for us. She was very helpful.

We learned that every grave in this cemetery has been adopted by a local family. That family treats the grave as if it was a family member. They lay flowers on the grave and teach the children in the family about the soldier who is buried there. If a member of the soldier’s family comes to visit the grave they do their best to meet with him and learn more about the soldier. There is a waiting list to be able to adopt a grave.

After we finished at the cemetery, we headed over to the D’Hondts house and enjoyed a “lekker” meal and a wonderful evening of visiting.

The D’Hondts have two sons, the oldest is named (Frederick after me) and he and Kira used to be pen pals when they were both very young. Their second son is Kristof. Frederick was tied up at work and couldn’t make it, but we were able to meet Kristof and his beautiful little girl Seraphine.

Kristof also had his girlfriend Patrysja there. She was a rather new girlfriend, but she seemed like a wonderful person. I’m predicting that they will end up getting married.