Today’s world leaders should heed the “mistakes” of the past or face the consequences, warns Count Henri d’Oultremont, who celebrates his 101st birthday this Sunday (31 May).
As one of only three known Belgian survivors of the famous Piron Brigade, Henri knows what he is talking about.
The Belgo-Luxembourg unit went down in military folklore after it took part in the Liberation of Normandy and Belgium alongside the Allies.
One other member of that brave band of brothers, André Liegois, celebrated his 101st birthday a few days before Henri on 25 May.
In an interview just ahead of his birthday, Henri told this site he fears political leaders have not heeded the “mistakes” that led to the outbreak of WW2.
Speaking from his home in Brussels, he said, “Yes, that is my big fear. The people in charge of our lives today either do not remember or do not even know about what happened back then.
“I was lucky in a way because my father was in the military and I learned a lot from him about war and conflict.”
With several bitter wars still raging, including in Ukraine and Iran, Henri says he is reminded of the period that preceded the beginning of WW2.
Henri has visited schools in Belgium to impart his knowledge about such things to young people and says, “I try to explain to them how dangerous times are now as well, not least when you compare today with how it was between 1935 and 1940. There is, in a way, a similar political climate today as back then so my hope is that today’s political leaders will learn from the past.”
He tells people, especially younger people, that “we shouldn’t despair,” adding, “We’ve had over 80 years of peace so why should it change? We have to look for solutions so that the same doesn’t happen again.”
In a 2025 interview with Belgium’s RTBF Actu, he echoed these sentiments, saying, “Let us hope that sooner or later, but not too late, there will be an awakening somewhere. Maybe people will begin to say to themselves it just doesn’t make any sense to make the same stupid mistakes as 80 years ago.I’m very worried; not for myself, but for my children and for my grandchildren. With all that is happening now, I remember exactly what was going on when I was 13, 14, 15, the three years before 1940. We were sure something was going to happen. And we got ready.”
RBL membership
Last year, Henri was also granted centenarian membership of the Royal British Legion (RBL), a much-loved and important UK-based charity set up to help former and serving military personnel, as well as their families.
Among its many branches worldwide are three in Belgium, in Brussels, Ypres and Antwerp, which count scores of Belgians among their members.
Perhaps, there is no better example of the Belgians who have long supported the RBL than Henri who served in the latter stages of the war in the British Army with the Brigade Piron.
For his centenary in 2025, Henri received a richly deserved certificate of appreciation from the Brussels branch of the RBL.
Still in remarkably good health (and memory), he was asked by this site what it was like to serve with such brave comrades and in such trying times, to which he, in typical modest manner, replied, “I did my best.”
He thinks there are, today, only three known survivors of the brigade but is not quite sure, adding, “There could be more of course. Another one came forward just last year which was a bit of a shock.
“So, if there are out there who are still alive it would, of course, be wonderful to hear from them.”
He was born in 2025, the year the Treaty of Locarno was signed by France, Germany, the UK and Belgium, guaranteeing post-WWI territorial boundaries and fostering an all-too-brief era of European peace.
That was shattered by the outbreak of another world war, one in which Henri served with real pride and valour.
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