Hero's walk WWI and WWII Oostrozebekestraat 41

The Heroes' Walk in Ingelmunster tells the story of several freedom fighters with a striking story from one of the world wars via various locations.
Along the route, which is just over 4 km long, you will stop at nine facades. The memorial plaques always have a QR code with which you can read the extensive stories of all the heroes.

The Kasteel Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck used to be located at Oostrozebekestraat 41. The history of this Ingelmunster brewery began in 1900 when Emiel and Louisa Van Honsebrouck bought a small farm where they founded a brewery. A memorial plaque for one of their sons ERNEST VAN HONSEBROUCK (1884-1972) hung on this building. In 2016, a new brewery with a visitors' centre was opened in nearby Emelgem. The original brewery in Ingelmunster was then demolished, so the memorial plaque is no longer there.

In the brochure "Heldenwandeling WOI en WOII", published by the municipal council of Ingelmunster, Kurt Windels, we find the following information:

"Ernest and Paul Van Honsebrouck were the two eldest sons of Emiel who had settled in Ingelmunster in 1901 as a brewer.
When the First World War started in 1914, the 30-year-old Ernest van Honsebrouck signed up as a volunteer. At the front, the literate Ernest emerged as a letter writer for the soldiers and as a correspondent of the war events.
In 1917, pieces of his appeared in American newspapers. Ernest was very popular with the soldiers, so it was obvious that he became the first chairman of the Veterans' Association after the Armistice.
Until 1960, he gave an annual dance party in the Cinema Albert, which he founded, for the veterans of '14-'18, their family, friends and acquaintances. His brother Paul Van Honsebrouck, the brewer, was injured in an Allied bombing raid in 1917."

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Wim Wouters