Eddy Blondeel
Belgian Army commander (1906–2000)
Lieutenant-Colonel Dr. (Dent.) Edouard "Eddy" Blondeel (25 January 1906 – 23 May 2000) was the wartime commander of the Belgian 5th SAS during World War II. Following the war he was first Commanding Office of the 1st Regiment of Parachutists. He retired from the army in 1947 to work as an engineer with Wiggins Teape.
Early life
Edouard Blondeel was born in Ghent on 25 January 1906. He initially studied at a German School in Ghent, but following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, his parents no longer wanted him to be educated at a German school, and he was enrolled in a bilingual Belgian school.
In his youth he excelled at basketball, fencing, and rowing, and at the age of 13 he took up scouting. Before the Second World War he was appointed Commissioner of Scouts in the Flanders region of Belgium. He later studied engineering at Ghent University and developed his linguistic abilities from the varied environments there.
He fulfilled his national service in an artillery regiment, where he was promoted from private to sergeant in under a year.
After his time as a conscript, he set up practice as an engineer, but wished to be more involved in serving people.
“Eddy Blondeel” enters the record as belgian Army commander (1906–2000). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Eddy, Blondeel and Belgian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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