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Archives of the Royal Military Museum 

Documentation Centre 
Parc du Cinquantenaire 3
1000 Brussels
E-mail : cdoc.klm-mra@warheritage.be   
Website: www.warheritage.be

A grave at the cemetery in Hamme (East Flanders). Nothing remarkable. After the Armistice, thousands of fallen soldiers are brought back to their hometowns. Louis too.

What happened:

- 4 August 1914: Louis Boel serves with the 1st Carabiniers until the end of the Battle of the Yser

- 1 November 1914: Louis Boel disappears – officially listed as a deserter

- 5 July 1915: a man named Louis Bracke, born in Dendermonde, reports to the training camp in Auvours – after training, he joins the 2nd Line Regiment

- 15 August 1916: Louis Bracke is killed in Kaaskerke and buried in Steenkerke

- After the war: the real story emerges - Louis Boel and Louis Bracke are one and the same man.

Incredible. He stays hidden for months and enlists again – calm and calculated – under a fake identity. 

A story that begs for more digging.

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