‘Corporal Adolf Hitler was treated here’ reads panel at church in Messines after WWI

Bromley became hooked on the Great War when he was a little boy in London, cleaning his grandfather’s medals. He hopes to open a museum in his home to tell the story of this area in WWI, and showcase some of the antique military guns he collects. He is fascinated by the people who once used the old weapons — and has a business selling them. His bookcases are filled with stories of the Great War; you can find old battlefield shells throughout his home...

St. Nicholas Church was rebuilt after the war. Outside the church — where bells ring out old songs throughout the day, like Abide with Me and Danny Boy — an information panel quietly announces, “the young corporal Adolf Hitler was treated here in the beginning of the war.”

Inside the church, candles are burning and footsteps echo on the tiles. Bromley walks downstairs, into the old crypt the Germans discovered by chance and turned into a dressing station. It is a historically crowded place — William the Conqueror’s mother in law is buried in the middle of the room.