WAREGEM, Belgium - The small West Flanders city of Waregem is located some 50 miles west of Brussels. Originally a textile town because of the local flax culture, this small (population: 35,000) and peaceful Belgian city is today better known as the venue for its important annual horse races, including the famous Great Flanders Steeple Chase.
Waregem is also the site of the smallest of the U.S. military cemeteries administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission in Europe. The Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial is the final resting place for 368 of our military dead, most of whom fell during the final months of 1918 while liberating Belgian soil from over four years of German occupation.
The Flanders Field Cemetery is also the site of a unique annual commemorative tradition on the part of this Belgian Commune in honor of those 368 Americans. Since 1919, less than one year after the end of what was then called the Great War, and with the exception of the 1940-44 occupation years, Waregem's children have collectively learned and sung the Star-Spangled Banner every Memorial Day at the cemetery site.
Waregem Mayor Kurt Vanryckeghem was himself one of the Singing Children of Waregem and is proud of the tradition. "The people of Waregem were grateful to the Americans who fell on their behalf in 1918 and who now rest on our soil," he explained.
Waregem was not a rich town in 1919 and had suffered much devastation. The provisional American cemetery at the time was very crude. "But our town fathers at the time thought that having our children learn and sing the anthem of the country would be a fitting way for us to repay, in our small way, the debt we owed to these Americans," said the mayor.
Capt. Brian Sansom, USAG Brussels Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment commander, and the HHD's First Sergeant, David Giddens, visited Waregem on April 27 with Jim Begg, an expatriate U.S. citizen long-resident in Belgium who has involved himself for years with the American Overseas Memorial Day Association committee in Brussels.
The purpose of the visit was to meet with some of this year's crop of Waregem youngsters prior to Memorial Day and let them know how much their efforts are appreciated.
"Some 120 Waregem children participate in the annual Memorial Day ceremony AOMDA sponsors and Army supports at the Flanders Field Cemetery," explained Begg. "Their participation is not at our request, but part of this 90-plus-year local tradition. Anyone who's ever attended the Memorial Day ceremony at this cemetery will attest as to how much they bring to the ceremony."
The group, in company with Mayor Vanryckegan, visited the three Waregem elementary schools whose children were rehearsing the anthem in preparation for this May's ceremony. Although the children are in the beginning stages of being taught English, Sansom had taken the trouble to memorize a few opening lines in their language, Flemish, before beginning a tag-team explanation to the youngsters about the U.S. Army.
"The kids knew that Flemish was not the captain's native language, but you could see how their faces lit up when he tried," said Begg. "What a great way to break the ice!"
Sansom and Giddens used each other as props, explaining to the fascinated children the significance of the different patches, stripes, badges and other uniform accouterments that make up the Army uniform. The cemetery's assistant superintendent, Christopher Sims, was present and translated.
After their presentations, both Soldiers entertained questions from the students. "These kids asked some great questions," said Sansom. "All of them were fascinated by our shiny dress shoes."
In addition to fielding questions on their service in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Soldiers responded to questions of day-to-day life in the U.S. Army. "After I'd explained that I was a father and had children their age, the kids asked me very thoughtful questions about being away from my family."
Several questions came up about physical activity, and Giddens stressed the need for physical fitness by calling for volunteers to accompany him in an impromptu push-up session.
"The children were delighted when Sgt. Giddens did that," recalled Begg. At the end of each of the three school sessions, Sansom and Giddens joined Begg and the mayor in presenting personalized certificates to each child, along with a souvenir pin featuring the crossed U.S. and Belgian flags.
At the last school, the mayor took himself back to his days in the early 1970s as one of the Singing Children of Waregem and joined the children in a rehearsal of the Star-Spangled Banner.
"Capt. Sansom and Sgt. Giddens did a magnificent job interacting with these children and showing them the face of today's U.S. Army," said Begg. "I'm sure the children now have an even better understanding about their town's tradition that they're part of."
Those interested in seeing the next performance of the Singing Children of Warege are invited to the Flanders Field Cemetery on May 24, for this year's Memorial Day ceremony. The ceremony begins at 3 p.m. Directions and additional information can be found at the AOMDA Web site, www.aomda.org.
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