August and Gommaire were two brothers from Duffel, a Belgian city near Antwerp. In 1914, August was conscripted and Gommaire, his older brother, volunteered. Both were enlisted in the fifth “linieregiment”.
At the same time, many civilians fled from Belgium to escape from the war zone. Henriette lived her mother and sisters in Antwerp when the war broke out. The family left Antwerp for the Netherlands shortly after Germany invaded Belgium. Afterwards, she managed to flee to Richmond, England with her sister and her brother-in-law. To earn her living, she worked in a munitions factory which soon deteriorated her health.