MONROE—Museum Village officially opens April 9, but it opened its doors a week early for its third annual one-day World War I tribute that commemorated 98 years since the end of the War. There were battle re-enactments, a presentation on chemical warfare, costumed interpreters from the time period, and displays on military life throughout the museum’s buildings.
The guest of the day was Marc Calcoen, the Consul General for the Belgium Consulate in New York. Calcoen is from Ypres, one of the towns in Belgium that was hit hard during the War, and he said recently hundreds of thousands of tourists have been coming to the area.
The town is very popular, especially with the British, the Canadian, and New Zealand, and Australian visitors because they want to find the place where their forefathers fought,” he said.
He said the war is still very much alive in Belgium, both in the pockmarks that dot the landscape from military projectiles and in the commemorative events that surround the War’s anniversary.
