On 16/12/2024 at 3:23 PM, a small part of the busy Keyserlei was silent for one minute.
Exceptional given the location, but one would be moved to think of what happened 80 years earlier.
Despite the deliberate modesty of the event, it was a very nice gathering, with representatives of various governments and organizations as well as passers-by, interested people and family members of people who were in “the Rex”. While waiting, they were occasionally treated to a bit of music by a piper from the Clan Hay Pipe band.
At 3:15 pm, initiator Koen Palinckx opened the ceremony by welcoming everyone on behalf of the “npo Remembrance 1st V-bomb Antwerp” and the “International V2 Research Group”. You may have come across the latter before on our V2 webpage since our board member Olivier Vilain is also a member and has been able to count on their extensive expertise, archives and especially their passion for years. Much of this can be found online at “V2rocket.com”, the source on the internet for V2 information. Be sure to visit the beautiful and extensive page about Antwerp under the V-bombs: "The City of Sudden Death", of course the story of the V2 at Cinema Rex is also shown there with some testimonials and some rarer photos.
During his introduction, Koen did not fail to mention the local and especially the Allied units that were active at the disaster site from 16 December to 22 December 1944 and got hundreds of victims from the rubble.
163th field ambulance company
719th and 696th art works company Royal Engineers
358th engineers USA
487th and 517th port batalion USA
15th en 17th Advanced ordonance depot RAOC
45th British hygiene section
74, 86, 91, 104, 310, 332rd pioneer company
41 and 77th mechanical equipment platoon Royal Engineers
1043rd port operations company RE
164th railway operation company RE
85 and 39th general transportation company RASC
552nd army troops company RE
102nd and 153rd commander royal engineers works
116th railway construction company RE
173rd provost company corps military police
930th port construction and repair company RE
Passive Air Defence, Red Cross, law enforcement, ...
British citizens would also come to the aid of the city and its services from January 1945 in the form of volunteers of the “Civil Defence Reserve No.1 Overseas Column”. Recently, thanks to our researcher friend Niko Van Kerckhoven, we were able to add a photo and more information to our PLB page about their colleague who gave his life during an operation in the city.
Pictures courtesy of Werner Palinckx.
After the introduction, Bart Vercammen, bugler of the “Koninklijke Harmonie Labore et Constantia”, played “Ten velde”. This was followed at 15:23 by the minute of silence, exactly 80 years after the deadliest conventional bomb from W.W.2 hit this vibrant part of the city. Then followed a few speeches by Philip Heylen, chairman of the npo “Remembrance 1st V-bomb Antwerp” and Paul Cordy as district mayor.
Then a total of 11 wreaths were laid at the memorial stone, accompanied by appropriate musical accompaniment from the Clan Hay piper.
The wreaths were placed for (and by)
City of Antwerp (Alderman Stijn De Rooster)
district Antwerp (district mayor Paul Cordy)
Provincial Command Antwerp (Colonel Johan Leniere)
City of Mortsel (Alderman Steve d’ Hulster)
American Embassy (Assistant defense attaché major Justin Smith)
npo "Remembrance 1st V-bomb Antwerp" (president Philip Heylen)
Royal British Legion Antwerp branch President Bob Chambers
Royal Union of Patriotic Circles (President Ron Marechal)
npo 5 april 1943 (Boardmembers Pieter Serrien and Marc Van de Looverbosch)
Bunkermuseum Antwerp npo (Secretary-treasurer Olivier Vilain)
International V2 Research Group (Member Koen Palinckx en Filip Maes).
When all the floral arrangements were placed, Mr. Vercammen closed the ceremony musically with “The Last Post”. Bart Beckers, Air Warfare advisor and board member of our npo was also present and made the video below in addition to the photo above.
At the end, Koen Palinckx thanked everyone for their presence, especially the musicians and various ensigns.
From left to right: Members and ensigns of the “Royal British Legion Antwerp Branch” (4), ensign of the “Nationale Vereniging Miliciens En Beroepsmilitairen Van Belgie”, ensign of the "Nationale Confederatie van Politiek Gevangenen en Rechthebbenden van België”.
The pink banner with the letters “DORA” and the image of the emaciated prisoner adds another important aspect of remembrance. The V1 and V2 weapons not only caused a heavy toll at their final destination but also during the production and all preparations for it. Some 20,000 people are said to have died here, more than by the use against targets. Many Antwerp political prisoners also ended up in the hell of Dora and Mittelwerk, forced to work for the production of destructive weapons for the enemy. As an extra sore point for them, these were ultimately mainly used against their own city and region, family members and friends.
It turned out to be a beautiful commemoration of this symbolic day for Antwerp, which so clearly shows its role and toll in WW2. A toll that Antwerp residents not only paid in their liberated city but also locked up in that distant underground hell.
With only a very minor contribution to the whole event, we as npo Bunkermuseum Antwerp would like to congratulate Koen Palinckx and Filip Maes in particular with the organization of this successful ceremony. Pieter Serrien also organized a commemoration here 5 years ago and was of course immediately enthousiastic, making the nice delegation from Mortsel come as no surprise. They too, on April 5, 1943, were introduced to the power of the air weapon in W.W.2 in a gruesome way…
We would of course like to thank all the persons and organisations present and hope to continue our main task together with them all, “lest we forget!”.
Afterwards we brought the floral arrangements to the Schoonselhof cemetery where many hundreds of military and civilian victims lie, also of the V2 at Cinema Rex. Placed at the beautiful monument for the V-weapon victims, they continue their task there.