KEEPING THEIR SACRIFICE AND THE HISTORY OF HOOGE ALIVE

A new war museum, the first step ...

The bond between the British people and the De Smul family has always been, as so many citizens of Ypres, very strong.

In 1914-18, British soldiers and officers came to the Ypres Salient to fight for our liberty and at the start of the Second World War, British troops together with the Allies were facing again the same enemy on Belgian grounds.

Many members of the De Smul family were volunteering to fight and defend their country side by side with British soldiers.

In 1940-45, one of the many dangerous activities of the Secret Army, also called "Resistance" was to help pilots and crew of the R.A.F. who had bailed out to safety after their plane had been gunned down by enemy fire.

The hotel "Regina", ran by my family and situated on the market square of the city played an important role throughout the war as a hiding place for many of them, waiting for the right moment to be guided across the German lines into freedom.

All those years the German soldiers and officers who occupied the building, were unawere of the existance of a secret room of which the entry was hidden behind an old cupboard.

Only after the war the public found out about the hiding of R.A.F. pilots and crewmembers by my parents and my uncle in their hotel, when lots of them saved during the four years ofhostilities came to visit my family in Ypres, years later.

As a child, Roger tells,  I came in contact with many veterans of WW1 during their stay in my parents hotel, from them I received souvenirs and artefacts, for which I took a keen interest in.

When I was twelve, I started collecting small arms from the First World War, and as a grown up, many years later, it envolved into the heavy weapons.

For several years, my efforts to obtain a suitable "home" for my collection failed, till in 1992, me and my wife Rosita, bought a small abandoned chapel and school.

In 1993, the renovation workd started on the chapel which was kept in it's original architecture, whereas the little school was transformed in a cafeteria.

During the renovation Roger came in contact with another WW1 collector, Philippe Oosterlinck, he was also looking for a place to exhibit some of his collections, for him as well the search was over.

The official opening of the 'Hooge Crater' Museum 1914-18 on Easter 1994, was the highlight in a long process of planning and hard work.

Over the 10 years the museum is open it has expanded several times, and now holds many of the finest WW1 collections in the area.