GUSTAVE GHIOT

When I was a child, I often talked about the war with my grandfather, lieutenant-colonel Armand Ghiot, who fought in the Belgian army during World War II, and was captured in June 1940. His stories were fascinating, but I was immediately captivated when he told me about his own father, my great-grandfather, Gustave Ghiot.

Gustave Ghiot was born on 4 June 1893 in Couture-saint-germain, a few miles from the battlefield of Waterloo. A conscript in the Belgian army in 1913, he was serving in the 4th company, 3rd battalion, 13th regiment of line infantry when World War I broke out.

Fighting since the first days of the conflict, he was evacuated for illness on 1 March 1915. He was transferred to the 19th regiment of line infantry on 25 December 1915. He rose through the ranks, and became a sergeant in 1917. On 29 November 1917, he was in a night raid in the trenches with his section when they got hit by artillery fire.

Despite receiving a shrapnel wound in the leg, he went back and forth to save his injured men. For this action, he was awarded the croix de guerre with palm on 13 December 1917. He was evacuated to a military hospital and sent to France to recover. Back in the trenches on 23 January 1918, he took part in the victorious offensive at the end of the war, and was decorated several times, receiving among others the highest Belgian award: the Order of Leopold. At the end of the conflict, he was sent with his unit to occupy the Rhineland. He was demobilised on 30 September 1919, having served for six years, and returned to his village, where he worked as a carpenter. He died in 1971.

Despite never having the chance of meeting him, I was able to research his career in the archives. Thanks to this early interest in his life, I became fascinated by World War I, and decided to study history at University. 25