Belgium’s oldest war veteran dies at 107

Albert Van Raemdonck, Belgium’s oldest man and war veteran, has died at a residential home in Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders.Born on 6 July 1916, he was one of the Belgian soldiers in the second world war who lived through the 18-day campaign, when Belgium was taken over by Germany in 1940. After Belgium’s capitulation, Van Raemdonck saw a ship taking Belgian prisoners of war explode after sailing over a mine, and witnessed 200 of his fellow soldiers drown. Briefly on the front line himself, he escaped death several times.He regularly paid tribute to people who lost their lives in the war. Until he was 100 he carried the National Federation of…