“Not on my watch!” War remembrance tourism fights for life

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

POPERINGE, Belgium (AP) — The pandemic has crippled remembrance tourism in Belgium, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in World War I. Before, tens of thousands would visit the battlefields to reminisce about sacrifice and slaughter. Resilient locals managed to get through the long lockdowns and travel restrictions to keep the memory of “the war to end all wars” alive. Doors of museums and inns are open again to host the trickle of visitors. It was a sense of mission that drove people like Simon Louagie to keep his Talbot House — a former soldiers’ club — from closing, vowing that the memory wouldn’t be extinguished. “Not on my watch!”