The Unsung Soldiers.
1st Paratroopers Battalion, Diest.
It was a sombre day in the Diest barracks. Every soldier and officer of the 1st battalion was gathered on the parade grounds, every man and woman facing west, towards a statue of a nondescript soldier, with mask and helm hiding the face it was hard to tell if it was supposed to be male or female, But then, that was the point.
The pedestal it stood upon was engraved with five names rotating around the base, one stood out from the others. Carved upon a plaque was a solid block of text in English reading.
Here I stand on weary feet,
Unwilling to accept defeat,
With courage, and weapon in hand,
I now await my final stand,
Though many come, they all shall meet,
With no surrender, no retreat.
Below that the name 'Cpl. Genève Lemaire'
The statue was a memorial to the soldiers of 3rd platoon that had fallen in the war against Russia. The third had been the only Belgian combat unit to fight in the war, their goal had been simple, protect as many civilians as possible or die trying. They had died standing their ground, as the world fell apart around them.
One man, a retired colonel by his rank pins, stepped up onto a small podium, looking at the gathered forces he sighed beginning his short speech.
"Two years ago, on this very day, we lost six of our brothers and one of our sisters. On this day we remember their sacrifice, on foreign soil, for unknown people they gave their lives so that innocents could live. Of all the units that gathered two years ago only the third, the brave third, had the courage to volunteer. To aid our allies, to protect their people."
Pausing to steady his emotions, he sipped from a glass of water,
"We all lost family the day they fell, you lost brothers and a sister, I like many gathered here today lost one of my children.. Belgium grieved the day they fell, our bravest, our hope for a world united. Yet that hope still lives on, I see it in each of you as I saw it in them, I see it in all of Belgium. Let us continue to do our duty this day, let us not forget them."
As he finished a single C-130 flew low over the base dipping its wing in salute to the fallen. A fitting salute from the air force for this plane had carried the third off to war, and it had brought them all home again that sad day so long ago.
