June 8 1940

Sixty-eight years ago my great-grandfather Felix De Vidts died in Pamel, where he had been born on April 12 1853. He had married Blondina Muylaert (Denderhoutem 1849 - Pamel 1942). My maternal grandmother Maria Antonia De Vidts (Pamel 1885 - Okegem 1949) was the second of their five children. She was one of the two daughters of Felix and Blondine who had offspring. Two other daughters died young, and their only son died in his late twenties.

So my mother lost her maternal grandfather on her 26th birthday.

Circumstances were bad : the Nazi's had invaded our country less than a month before, she had no news about my father who was in the army (he was one of the last soldiers in the village to come home again a couple of days later - if my memory serves me correctly my mother told me she was warned during the funeral service of her grandfather that my father was back). But there was a small ray of sunshine : she was pregnant with me, the first of her three children.