Cyriel Camiel and Hector Alidor Lesage

Cyriel Camiel Lesage and Hector Alidor Lesage were brothers who were soldiers for Belgium during World War I. Both have excelled in bravery and received military distinctions. The suffering of their family is representative for the disaster of World War I in Flanders Fields.
Early life
The Lesage family lived at Westrozebeke in Belgium at the time of the birth of Cyriel Camiel and had moved to Moorslede by the time Hector Alidor was born. Being a family of farmers, the plan was to work hard and save money to buy a new farm which would later most probably be inherited by Cyriel Camiel since he was the eldest son. By the time World War I began they had established their dream and had their own farm at Beselare in Belgium, not knowing that this area, later to be named "Flanders Fields", would be completely destroyed by the warfare at the western front during the years to come.
Private Cyriel Camiel Lesage
Cyriel Camiel Lesage was born in Westrozebeke (Belgium) around 1890 and had been with the Belgian army since 1910. He was a soldier with the company “2e Regiment Jagers te Voet 3/4 (12 Cie)” (in Flemish) or “2e Régiment de Chasseurs à Pied 3/4 (12 Cie)” (in French)
=="2e Régiment de Chasseurs à Pied"==
The “2e Régiment de Chasseurs à Pied” were Special Forces of the Belgian army, who were light infantry and were trained to perform reconnaissance tasks and attacks behind the enemy lines. Because of their skills and feared maneuverability they were nicknamed the "black devils" or "schwarzen Teufel" by the Germans. Their emblem was a hunting horn with a number 2. Just before the war they were stationed at Bergen (Mons) in Belgium. On October 6, 1914, the “2e régiment de Chasseurs à Pied” attacked the Germans at the river Nete and lost many lives. He died at a Paris hospital on March 17 in 1916 at 10 pm and was first buried at Ivry in Paris before being re-buried together with only 102 other Belgian soldiers and commanders at Père Lachaise in the monument dedicated to the Belgian soldiers who died in France during World War I., whereas the youngest were their playmates. It is being said that one of the French sons would later become a priest and that he has always acknowledged de Lesages for the faith and the education they had shared with him during their refuge.
Family and Relatives
Cyriel Camiel Lesage and Hector Alidor Lesage were the two eldest brothers of Irma Helena Lesage (Moorslede 1905 - Kortrijk 1953). Their village Beselare had been totally destroyed just like most of the villages along the Western Front. It is being told that Emile Theophile Lesage was a very amicable person and a distinguished farmer whose words of wisdom and care for others have been an inspiration to many. Both parents died during the interbellum and have been buried at Beselare where their grave has been located until the local authorities sadly removed it in 2010.

Brothers Oscar Lesage and Daniël Lesage
Oscar Lesage (Moorslede 1906 - Roeselare 1990), a younger brother of Cyriel Camiel and Hector Alidor was 34 years old when Nazi Germany invaded Belgium in 1940 and the Battle of Belgium was being fought. Oscar Lesage was a military with the Belgian Cavalry.
Great-Grandfathers in Napoleon’s Grande Armée
Cyriel Camiel and Hector Alidor were the eldest sons of Emile Theophile Lesage (1857-1938) from Westrozebeke and Eudoxie Romanie Lammens (1868-1931) from Zonnebeke. Emile Theophile Lesage was the son of Louis François Lesage, Eudoxie Romanie Lammens was the granddaughter of Joseph Leopold Lammens (1790-1847) from Vladslo

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