On Friday 26th May 2023 a remembrance plaque was unveiled for the Belgian soldier Frans Rottiers, KIA in Seoul, Korea, 24^th March 1951.

The first Belgian killed in the Korean War was Ledenaar Frans Rottiers.

The Korean War started on June 25, 1950. Then North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The Security Council decided to intervene: a coalition of countries, including Belgium, decided to provide military support to the south. In July 1953 a ceasefire was declared.

In Korea, several people of Lede also fought. Among them Frans Rottiers. ‘He became the first Belgian soldier to die: in Seoul in March 1951. His name is mentioned on the war memorial on the Markt. However, his grave has been cleared,' said Johan De Ryck of the Circle of Friends on 11 November.

‘Frans Rottiers joined the Belgian volunteer corps for Korea after his military service. Due to a gunshot wound and a bayonet stab, the young militant lost his life on March 22 during a night attack by a Chinese combat unit. His remains were repatriated to Belgium in January 1952 from a temporary military cemetery in Pusan. The bronze coffin arrived in Lede by rail. A guard of honor of school children accompanied him like a true hero in a modest procession to the town hall where the members of Members paid a last greeting.

Frans Rottiers was posthumously awarded the War Volunteer Medal, the War Cross, the Foreign Operations Commemorative Medal, the Combatant War Volunteer Medal, and the United Nations Korea Medal. Pastor Govaert and Mayor Coppens led the ceremony. With the “Te Velde” by trumpeter Simon Smolders of the St-Cecilia band, a last military salute was brought.

(source: Johan De Smedt and Hubert Topke).