Queen's Birthday Honours: Four Belgians honoured

STEP UP: Steven Reynaert organised "In the footsteps of the New Zealanders." PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Four Belgians have been awarded honours in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and the news has delighted South Wairarapa mayor Adrienne Staples and war historian Neil Frances.

The four - Freddy Declerck, Sandy Evrard, Benoit Mottrie and Steven Reynaert have been made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in an honorary capacity in recognition of their services to New Zealand-Belgium relations and war commemoration.

Mrs Staples, whose husband Don is honorary Belgium consul, has met and keeps in contact with three of the recipients - she does not know Mr Mottrie - and said she was " thrilled" they had been recognised. Freddy Declerck, she said, had visited Featherston and was instrumental in bringing the highly successful Passchendaele Exhibition to the Anzac Hall in July 2009, as part of the Belgians Have Not Forgotten tour.

Likewise, Mr Frances met all but Mr Mottrie on a 2007 visit to Belgium with the band Wild Geese, to take part in commemorations of the 1917 Battle of Messines.

Mr Evrard was mayor of Messines and Mr Frances recalls Freddy Declerck had a special interest in the life of the late All Blacks captain Dave Gallaher, who was wounded during the attack on Gravenstafel Spur on October 4, 1917, and died hours later.

The Queen's Birthday citation for Mr Declerck says he retired from the Royal Belgian Navy in 2004 and has since been chairman of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, and was president of the Passchendaele Society of Belgium until 2015.

As Memorial Museum chairman, Mr Declerck has promoted remembrance of the Allies, in particular those who fought on the battlefields of Flanders during WWI. He is an acknowledged expert on the New Zealand division's involvement on the battlefields of Flanders. He has also helped New Zealanders find family members buried in Flanders Fields.

Sandy Evrard is still mayor of Messines and has been instrumental in raising awareness of the role New Zealand played in Belgium during WWI, especially the liberation of Messines in 1917.

Since 1975, Messines has been twinned with Featherston, as most troops left for war after training at the Featherston Military Camp.

In 2000 he travelled to New Zealand to be at the 25th anniversary of their twin town relationship.

In Belgium he has supported the building of several memorials honouring New Zealand and its soldiers, including a life size bronze statue of a New Zealand soldier.

He hosts the official New Zealand delegation on Anzac Day in Messines, organising a breakfast for New Zealanders and for Belgians to fly the New Zealand flag.

Benoit Mottrie has been chairman of the Last Post Association in Ieper (Ypres) since 2006. The voluntary organisation organises the nightly sounding of the Last Post at the Menin Gate memorial, which records the names of more than 55,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed in the fighting around the Ypres Salient during WWI and have no known grave. The ceremonies are attended by thousands. Mr Mottrie oversees the buglers and ushers, co-ordinates performances by visiting bands or choirs, and arranges attendance by VIP and military representatives.

He acts as MC for major commemorative events such as Anzac Day and Armistice Day, and was involved with reburial ceremonies in 2012 and 2013 for New Zealand soldiers killed in the battle of Messines. Mr Mottrie brought buglers of the Last Post Association to New Zealand in 2007, where they sounded the Last Post in several cities.

Steven Reynaert is an historian and youth and cultural affairs co-ordinator for Messines. He has also been instrumental in raising awareness of the role New Zealand played in Belgium during WWI, particularly in the liberation of Messines.

Mr Reynaert was the principal driver of the development in 2007 of a guided walk through Messines called "In the footsteps of the New Zealanders", the first and only guided battlefield tour in Flanders to focus on the battle of Messines and New Zealand's role. He led a redevelopment of the town's museum, to focus on New Zealand's role. Mr Reynaert is involved in organising Anzac Day ceremonies in Messines and supports the development of the New Zealand Government's western front heritage trail project.