Pierre Louis V. Barthélemy Merx: A Legendary Soldier
Early Life and Military Beginnings
Pierre Louis V. Barthélemy Merx was born in Belgium in 1849. By the time the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 broke out, he was a 21-year-old cavalry sergeant.
After that war, his life went by without much drama… Until August 1914, when WWI broke out with Germany! By then, he was a widower, living at one of his daughters’ houses.
On the first day of the war, he learned that his son was held up in The Netherlands and therefore unable to answer the call for mobilization. Merx immediately rushed to the nearest recruiting station to offer his services instead. You see, Merx was old school: In his mind, in times of war, every household should send a male to the armed forces for King and Country! If his son could not do it, then duty dictated that he should go instead!
Enlisting in the Army
The recruiter, upon learning that Merx was 65 years old, was in no rush to enroll him. Merx, however, would not be deterred that easily. Trying to find a compromise, the recruiter offered him a position as a sergeant in the army supply train. Merx refused: He wanted to fight and he wanted to do so as a soldier and earn his ranks in battle. Historians are not sure how he managed to convince both the recruiter and the doctor on site, but he ended up serving as a rifleman attached to the 9th of the Line!
By March 1915, he was made corporal. That same year, he was knighted for saving the lives of several of his comrades under enemy fire.
Merx became legendary amongst Belgian troops, earning the nickname “Papa Merx” (Daddy Merx), bestowed upon him by the young soldiers fighting alongside him.
A Heroic Journey
By June 1915, he was once again promoted to sergeant, 45 years after having first worn the stripes!
Merx kept on serving at the front, and he is credited with saving the life of the Count of Flanders: A young man called Leopold who would one day become Leopold III of Belgium! This act earned him the friendship of King Albert I.
By 1917, Merx was 68, and the Belgian high command was afraid that his death could be a major blow to army morale. They offered him a mission far back behind friendly lines and offered him the rank of warrant officer should he accept it. Merx refused, stating, “It is better for an old carcass like me to die, rather than for a young man with his whole life ahead of him.” In the end, tough old Merx survived the war. He served at the front from beginning to end.
In 1918, he refused to obey the demobilization order, only accepting to retire from the armed forces in 1919! By then, he was 70 years old! His campaign between 1914 and 1918 earned him 6 medals (including two French and an Italian one), one mention in dispatches (in 1916), and 3 different knighthoods!
Legacy of Pierre Louis V. Barthélemy Merx
Sergeant Merx enjoyed his second retreat being treated like a legend, being regularly invited to the royal palace by his old friend King Albert, and having a street named after himself in his hometown. But he never lost the fire in him: In 1937, he revolted against an amnesty law that forgave WWI Belgian deserters and collaborators. In spite, he publicly removed his medals and threw them on the tomb of the unknown soldier in Brussels. Many of his former comrades in arms followed suit.
Those medals weren’t lost, though: They were melted down into a crown and placed at the base of the rock where King Albert I fell to his death in 1934.
Papa Merx passed away in 1938. He was 89 years old. His death probably avoided the awkward situation for an army recruiter in May 1940 of having a 91-year-old veteran banging his stick on his desk requesting to be enrolled into the army once more…
-RBM.
