Friends reunited

Internet helps Wisconsin man contact Belgium friends after 56 years

By LISA M. REED

Staff Writer Iron Mountain Daily News

GOODMAN, Wis. - Today’s computer technology helped a local Wisconsin resident locate long lost friends in Belgium after contact was lost 56 years ago.

Emil Millette, 84, of Goodman, Wis. had met the Rouhart family of Liege, Belgium, while stationed there with the 451st Anti-Aircraft Battery during World War II. Millette and the Rouhart’s lost contact a few years later.

In May 2001, Millette’s niece, Carol Kelley, of Madison, Wis.. was playing a game of Yahtzee on the Internet and began communications with an Andrew from Belgium. He helped Kelley get addresses for her Uncle Millette, who then got in contact with

~ Louisia “LuLu” Rouhart, 81, and her sister, Nelly Rouhart.

When the 45 1st Anti-Aircraft‘ Battery flew into Southern France by Convoy to Belgium during the invasion of Southern France to relieve pressure on Normandy for the Battle of Bulge in September 1944, the Rouhart family lived in Jopilee by the Mease River in a brick house.

At that time, Millette, a soldier with the 451st Anti-Aircraft Battery, met the Rouhart family and dated Mi Mi, a good friend of LuLu’s.

Due to the war, times were tough in Europe.

For the Christmas of 1944, soldiers of the 45st Anti-Aircraft Batter had two turkeys but no oway to cook them, so Millette asked the girls if their mother would cook dinner for everyone. She agreed.

“That was the best Christmas I ever had,” said LuLu, who was in her 20s in 1944.

“We had to eat in shifts,” Millette said of one of his best Christmas dinners.

Millette noted he had Sunday dinner of American food with the Rouhart family every week while stationed in Belgium.

On the telephone 56 years later, Millette spoke to Nelly, who broke down and started to cry very hard.

After a few more conversations on the telephone with Nelly and LuLu, Millette decided he would like to go back to Belgium to visit. In May 2001, Miliette and his niece, Kelley, visited LuLu and Nelly in Belgium.

During a visit to Belgium in 2001, Millette learned that Mi Mi had died two years before contact was established with the Rouhart’s again, so Millette said his goodbyes to her at a cemetery in Liege.

Millette also visited the American Army Cemetery in Leige, where thousands of soldiers were buried.

LuLu also arranged for Millette to attend the Belgium Memorial Services held in May. At this memorial, Millette was given a certificate and a medal for his service in World War II.

The people in Belgium hugged and cried when they found out Millette was an American soldier. For the most part, children in Belgium do not like Americans.

LuLu, a teacher in Belgium, has visited Millette’s family and friends, known as her ‘extended family’ in Wisconsin, a few times since Millette’s visit to Belgium.

On her third visit to Wisconsin, while celebrating her 81st birthday in Goodman, “LuLu” spoke highly of her ‘extended family’ in Wisconsin.

“They’re wonderful — that’s why I come back again,” said LuLu of visiting Emil’s family and friends in Wisconsin a third time. “They put me in their family. It’s really nice.”

“The flowers, trees — it’s peaceful, quiet. I love the squirrels, and turkeys,” LuLu said. “It’s a big change. There are flowers all over, small birds — hummingbirds — it’s green all over. “I have a good time looking at the green.”

While visiting Wisconsin, LuLu noted she misses playing Bridge at the club, which is her favorite thing to do in Belgium. To this

day, LuLu drives from Belgium to France for bridge tournaments.

LuLu noted her extended family gets her the type of beer she likes to drink when she is in the U.S., although it is not the exact kind she drinks.

“It’s kind to find what can please you, and that is what they do all the time,” LuLu said of her extended family. “Best way to me is to give a gift of what can please you.”

“They are always thinking about the other — all of them. They are a really wonderful family. At the same, always trying to please,” LuLu said. “It’s a luck to meet them.”

LuLu said families in Belgium are not like that.

LuLu lives in Liege, Belgium in an apartment and said it is not a safe town, and life is not easy for women alone in Belgium.

“Cars get stolen. It is less safe than Belgium for everything, but it’s a choice,” LuLu said.

LuLu has a son, Michel, who is married to Nicole.

“I changed since J came here,” said LuLu, who returned home to Belgium in August.

Lisa M. Reed’s e-mail address is freed@iron,nountathdaitynews.cont