MILAC picture stamps catalogue

133 items

“MILAC” was founded in 1945 just after the 2nd World War. It stands for Militiaren Actie and is part of the Katholieke Actie, a Catholic training movement in the Belgian army. More

“MILAC” was founded in 1945 just after the 2nd World War. It stands for Militiaren Actie and is part of the Katholieke Actie, a Catholic training movement in the Belgian army. The original idea was to prepare future conscripts for their military service.

After WWII, the military service (conscription) in Belgium was extra long (2 years).
The conscripts received a pay of 10 Belgian francs per day. Not to write home about.

Here Cardinal Jozef Cardijn (from 'Seeing, Judging, Acting' and the statement 'And now forward!') reappears with his “barracks”. This was aimed at supporting the militians on a moral and social level and with the main idea of safeguarding and protecting the soldiers against the lack of morality in the army. Later, training and relaxation initiatives were added.

The main driving force was François ("Sooi") Willems, the later national provost, who could rely on a large number of volunteers. Although completely independent, there was usually a good cooperation with the chaplain service of the army. Under the impulse of Milac, the "soldier's week" was organized annually from 1948, in order to also involve the "home front" in the problems of the militiamen.
A private magazine (first "Marsch", later "Extra Rantsoen") was also a training and bonding tool.

source: www.kamp-vogelsang.be

With the abolition of compulsory military service in 1994, Milac also came to an end. The archive of the movement is currently managed by the KADOC in Leuven.

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Number of picture stamps

133

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