Machelen, a small town in East Flanders (Belgium) on the banks of the Lys canal, with its cobbled sidewalks and red brick pavilions adjoining the fields.
It was here that in 1918 was fought one of the last battles of the First World War.
Since then, some 800 French soldiers have been resting in the heart of the town, in a nicely wooded military cemetery.
Poilus whose remains, at the time, no one in France had claimed.
And which ended up falling into oblivion.
It is to honor their memory that a resident of Waregem, about ten kilometers away, has embarked on a titanic job: to tell the story of each of them in a book.
Patrick Lernout, 67, is a former manager in human resources.
His free time as a retiree, he dedicates it almost entirely to those soldiers who fell close to where he was born.
"Give back a life" to the soldiers
"These young men gave their lives to free our own," explains the man in his strong Flemish accent.
Deaths, however, almost unnecessary.
Because only a few days before the Armistice, the die is cast “and we have known for several weeks that the Germans are going to capitulate.
But they had to avoid losing ground for the negotiations ”.
This enthusiast is not at his first attempt.
In Waregem, he has already done the same in the only American military cemetery in Belgium.
“Fifteen years of work for 1,500 pages,” he explains.
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Out of the 800 French soldiers to whom he would like to "try to give a new life", he counted six young men from Yvelines.
If he knows their journey under the flags because “the French military archives are very complete”, he is mostly missing photos, and the icing on the cake, “perhaps testimonies from families who would recognize the grandfather”.
Antoine Martres, 20, was living in Sartrouville when he was mobilized.
Albert Couaillet came from Beynes.
But the young man, killed at barely 18, seems to have roots in Mesnières-en-Bray (Seine-Maritime).
Residing in Le Vésinet, François Duteyrat was 40 when he was shot on October 31.
There is also Marcel Clément, from Jambville and Auguste Masey, from Limetz-Villez.
Then finally Ernest Rossignol, from Chatou.
Ernest Rossignol, fencing figure in Chatou
Two and a half years ago, during the celebrations of the centenary of the Armistice, the city had honored it in one of its publications.
It was his niece, Yveline Danic, who drew his portrait at the time.
Deceased two months ago, she left, without knowing it, a precious testimony to Patrick Lernout.
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The eldest of a family of four children, Ernest Rossignol grew up in the footsteps of a father who was a fencing champion, who even participated in the 1900 Paris Olympics. Which introduced him to the sword.
After military studies, he returned to give fencing lessons in the room opened by his father in Chatou.
Originally from Chatou, Ernest Rossignol died at age 21, two weeks before the Armistice.
DR
He was 19 years old, when in 1916, he left for the flag in the 350th Infantry Regiment.
On October 24, 1918, he was one of those who had to face the Germans at Machelen.
"He died from a bullet in the head shot by a German hidden behind a tree," says one in Chatou town hall where we were closely interested in the story of the young man.
One of the 290 dead that we will mourn in the town.
When people come to Machelen, "there are tears"
Unlike many of his comrades, Ernest Rossignol is not buried in Machelen because his body was repatriated at the request of the family.
“His parents wanted him to rest with his family,” we still explain.
They went there as long as they could stand.
"
But it's been a long time since no one was on his grave.
“The cemetery hardly ever receives visitors, regrets Patrick Lernout.
Yet he deserves to live.
Sometimes a family finds out that one of their own, whom they never knew what became of, is buried here.
When people come to the cross of the deceased grandfather, I can tell you that there are tears ”.
Contact: patrick.lernout@telenet.be