Jos Dullemans, Belgian Soldier, 1914 in Holland

[lynedmonds]

I became intrigued by the story of this soldier and his family after buying this postcard on a recent trip to Flanders. I thought I would post it in case anyone can shed any more light on this soldier and family or their likely circumstances at the time.

After receiving some very kind help from someone working at Ypres Town Hall, I am told that this is written to Jos Dullemans by his brother-in-law and sister who have sent the card from Cardiff to him at the camp in Holland. The note explains that they will contact him as soon as they have more news. I wonder if they relocated to the UK just before the outbreak of war?

Kind regards

Lyn

[headgardener]

Thousands of Belgian refugees arrived in the UK after the outbreak of war (Belgium was almost completely overrun - it was only an area around Ypres and extending to the coast that remained unoccupied by the Germans), so that'll almost certainly be the answer to your question. They were sent to various locations all over the UK. Lot's of wounded Belgian soldiers ended up in UK hospitals, too.

[sabine72]

hello,

the date of the stamp tells us that at that time all belgian soldiers where in the ijzer area,( very smal area left that was not in german hands) he was not, means he was part of these soldiers who ended a)prisoner of war got stuck in occupied belgium c) arrived save in holland, there where a lot of belgians in holland even civilians in camps.

[Aneurin]

There certainly were Belgian refugees in Cardiff at this time. There were enough of them for the Western Mail to publish occasional brief reports in Flemish for a period. If you have the opportunity, a search through this paper and the South Wales Daily News for mentions of the refugees in the early months of the war might be worthwhile. Cardiff library have copies on micro-film.

Gwyn