80 years since the Liberation of Wavre: the “unknown” British soldier killed in Basse-Wavre on September 5, 1944 has been identified and honored

It was 80 years ago. September 5, 1944. English Corporal Owen Hughes was shot down by a German tank in Basse-Wavre, in the grounds of Notre-Dame College. Eight decades later to the day, this Thursday, his memory was honored. A commemoration like no other since the English soldier – buried in the Auderghem cemetery like five other compatriots from the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards – had been the subject of lengthy research. Indeed, his family knew nothing of the place and circumstances in which he had been killed. In Belgium, Patrick Hilgers, a schoolteacher in Basse-Wavre had long been interested in the story of this soldier about whom little or nothing was known. “It’s simple, I started my career as a teacher 40 years ago, already interested in the story of Owen Hughes, says the man who retired from teaching last July.

And I finished it in 2024 having finally discovered what I was looking to know.” Across the Channel, Owen’s brother Idriss Hughes has dedicated his life to finding out what happened to his brother and exactly where he lost his life. “He knew that his brother had died in the Second World War and, 49 years ago, in 1975, when he came to Belgium, he found where he was buried, explains Patrick Hilgers.

But Idris and his wife Megan returned home without knowing where Owen had died. The publication in 1981 of John Rettallack’s book Welsh Guards, which described how the heroic guardsman was killed in a “monastery” as his company cleared the Germans from Wavre, provided a breakthrough. But it was difficult for the Hugheses to find out more about this “monastery” at the time. A family friend, Leslie Lord, then joined them to boost the research.

“John Retallack’s book mentions a company of Welsh Guards, commanded by Major Evans, who moved along a railway line south of the Dyle. He also mentions that members of this company revisited the ‘monastery’ in January 1945 and discovered that monks had erected a plaque where Corporal Hughes had fallen. There was also a white stone cross. By examining Google Earth and historical documents, Leslie has compiled a list of religious establishments not far from the Dyle.”

A story that has been making waves in recent months on the island of Anglesey, where Owen Hughes comes from. One of them was therefore not a monastery but the Notre-Dame de Basse-Wavre basilica, built at the end of the 16th century on the ruins of a Benedictine monastery (the college would later be built there). In November 2023, Leslie Lord, convinced that he had a serious lead there, went there. Alas, there was no trace of a plaque or a cross. However, he sent an email to the college and received a response in return from… Patrick Hilgers. The two men stayed in touch and established the link to their long-standing research at the end of 2023. “Patrick knew well the story of this soldier who received the last rites and whose body was taken away by the British forces, relate Leslie Lord.

But in the rush of war, the name had not been registered.” The cross and the plaque, meanwhile, had been moved and lost. All this explaining that, the mystery was therefore solved and was the subject of a real buzz and several press articles across the Channel, on the island of Anglesey, Owen Hughes’ homeland. “After all these years of research, I am obviously very happy to have been able to reach this conclusion and, above all, to have been able to help Owen’s family find answers to their questions,”

added Patrick Hilgers. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Wavre and the death of Owen Hughes, our contact organised this great moment of commemoration this Thursday at the Notre-Dame de Basse-Wavre college. Although Idris Hughes was unable to attend, he was represented by his friend Leslie Lord, who came with his wife. Representatives of patriotic associations were also present, as well as hundreds of pupils and the local authorities of Wavre. An important moment to convey a unique story that took place in three stages. First at the bunker built at the time and located in the woods behind the grounds, then near the English flag planted at the place where Owen Hughes died and finally near the main entrance to the establishment, where the commemorative stele was reinstalled.